Fate's Future
by Snowbear
Summary: Slightly AU, Snape doesn't get killed in the end of the 7th book. Hermione/Snape romance involving a weird incidence of time travel. Not another Hermione goes back in time and falls in love with young Severus! It's much more original than that!
1. Prologue

"I can't stand the idea of being away from you for so long," Severus Snape muttered as he draped himself into an armchair, "Especially not now."

"You already know what happened," Hermione Granger pointed out to him, "And you know that it turned out fine… _I_ don't have that consolation, only that I somehow have to make you fall in love with me."

"A far easier task than the one I am about to undertake," Severus retorted, "Making the eighteen year old _you_ fall in love with the fifty year old me."

"Don't worry about it," Hermione answered with a knowing smile, coming over to perch on the edge of the chair he was still slouched in, "It's all history for me. Be yourself. It was partly how much you clearly loved me that made me fall in love with you."

"I know," he sighed as her hands started rubbing his shoulders gently, "And I fell in love with the woman I saw you would become."

"You didn't seem to mind the younger me when I came back," Hermione said with a smirk.

"Well… no," he said, straightening up in the chair a little, "I have always found you quite attractive and by the time the war ended you were no where near as hysterical as you were at Hogwarts."

"Just don't forget tomorrow morning," Hermione said with a mischievous wink, and somehow Severus knew he would… she wouldn't look so amused if he hadn't. It was a miracle she fell in love with him. From what she had told him of her time in the future, with him, it was an amusing escapade. He had wondered if it was worth trying to change it… but for her it had already happened. He might as well accept that what had happened would happen and if it hadn't he wouldn't be here.

"Be careful," Severus whispered to Hermione, "Though I already know you were. Are going to be. But be careful."

"Of course," she said, then with a slightly worried look added on, "I _am_ okay, aren't I?"  
"Haven't I told you a thousands times before that you were wonderful and fine and healthy…?" Severus asked, looking up at her and reaching a hand to stroke her cheek gently, lovingly, "The only part I cannot vouch for is your return. But we will know what happens in five months."

"Five months," she sighed, "I can't believe it's finally happening. It feels like forever since that day I woke up in this bed in this house in this time…"

"I know," Severus said with a soft smile, "Now we get to know the other side of the story. I love you Hermione."

"I love you too," she said, the leaned down and kissed him.

As they fell asleep that night, wrapped in each other's arms, he whispered to her, "I'll see you in five months."


	2. Severus

It was, in some ways, awkward to still be at Hogwarts. I considered retiring after the Dark Lord had been defeated, but there was really nothing else I wanted to be doing. At least being Headmaster got me away from the imbeciles I usually had to teach. It was a different sort of hard work, that I had learned last year. I wasn't sure how people would react to my keeping the position… afterwards, but they were surprisingly complacent. I didn't ask how much Potter had told everyone, but from the looks Minerva gave me and the way she and others treated me I suspected almost everything. Albus would be happy, anyway.

"_My word, Severus, that I shall never reveal the best of you?"_

It appeared Lily's son had done that for him. Whatever he had said, there was no doubt in anyone's mind that I had been Dumbledore's man until the very end, even when no one knew it except for myself. I had become, essentially, more popular than I ever dreamed possible. More popular than I ever _wanted_. There were some though, that would always resent me. That was why it was awkward to be still at Hogwarts.

I arose early, as usual, and got dressed slowly. Always in black. Just because I was Headmaster did not mean I would dress as flamboyantly as my predecessor. When I stepped outside my rooms, I was startled to find someone standing there, waiting for me. I immediately recognized Hermione Granger. She was the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, as of one month ago. She, Potter, and Weasley had spent the year after the war regaining the education they had forfeited the year before, in hiding from the Dark Lord. I suspected Potter and Weasley would not have been so keen on taking their NEWT's if it hadn't been for her, but either way they had done surprisingly well.

Potter was now in training to be Auror- his words had been, "I don't want anyone like Voldemort getting a chance to rise ever again. Not in my lifetime." The only reason I knew was that it was in the Daily Prophet. I was wondering when they'd change the paper's name to the Daily Potter. Weasley had become an Auror too.

Anyway, Granger was waiting outside my rooms. I didn't bother to wonder how she had known where they were. Not because I didn't whole heartedly believed in her magical skills and intuition to find them (which I did). The reason I didn't bother to wonder was because I was too startled at her appearance. Gone was the nineteen year old witch from yesterday and in her place was someone older, exuding an aura of calm (and amusement), and the self confidence that comes with age and experience. She looked like a woman nearing the end of her twenties.

"What in god's name happened to _you_?" I demanded, quickly shutting my door and checking her for curses. There were none. Why did she look so damned _amused_?

"A freak accident of magic and time travel," she said with a smile, "I figured I should let you know in private. I can't imagine it'd be very pleasant to walk into the Great Hall for breakfast and find your Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor had aged ten years."

"Excuse me?" I said slowly, feeling aghast and confused but not letting it show. Apparently the adventures hadn't died with Voldemort. She smirked at my apparent loss for words.

"I'm the Hermione Granger ten years from now. I'll only be here five months. The Hermione you know is taking my place in the future. Don't worry- I already know that everything turns out all right. I just thought you'd like a little heads up. I'll continue teaching, you aren't out of a Professor."

With that, she turned around with a swish of her robes and started striding off in the direction of the Great Hall. I quickly regained composure and strode after her, catching up to her in a few large strides. I caught her arm and stopped her, looking squarely into her face.

"I'd like a little more of an explanation, Hermione," I said to her. She didn't notice, but it was the first time I'd called her by her first name. For the last month I'd insisted on calling her Miss Granger, but it didn't seem to suit this woman standing before me.

"I'm afraid I don't really know any more," she confessed with an embarrassed half smile, "We never figured out what caused it. I pinned it down to sheer freak accident of magic, as I said… I already know what happens because I already went to the future, ten years in my past, I already experienced what my younger self is experiencing right now in the future. When I returned, certain people here informed me of the events that occurred. When I was in the future, those there also told me some of what happens now."

"Time travel?" I repeated, tilting my head slightly at her, "You didn't just take an aging potion by accident?"

"I most assuredly did not," she said with a smirk, "Aging potions don't send you back ten years in time to your first year as a Professor at Hogwarts- nor, conversely, do they fabricate ten years of experience in your mind."

I didn't think it had been likely but I wanted to make sure she was telling the truth. Her answer sounded too amused at the thought of an aging potion to allow me any more doubt- she truly had traveled back in time. I frowned at her.

"And you still do not know what caused it?" I inquired. She nodded, and I let my breath hiss out through my teeth.

"You simply woke up here… ten years in your past?" I continued my interrogation.

She nodded, and added, "Ten years ago I awoke in the bed that is now mine. Needless to say I was a lot more confused."

I stared at her, letting my eyes burrow into her head as I thought, and I finally said, "You realize that never before has that sort of time travel been recorded? You are saying that Hermione Granger— the one that _should_ be here, has just traveled to the future, and sent you back in her place."

"Time travel to the future," she echoed, and smiled again. I was starting to get annoyed with her. It was bad enough when she was a know-it-all from books, now she was a know-it-all from the future. At least she wasn't waving her hand madly in the air. I sighed. It was going to be a long day.

"How can you take this so calmly?" I asked of her through gritted teeth, feeling upset and at the same time excited. If she had traveled to the future… it opened all sorts of amazing possibilities. I didn't believe that it would never be figured out. She was just incompetent in the area, clearly. Then again, I still wasn't entirely sure I believed her. There were so many other reasons to explain Hermione Granger waking up ten years older.

"Because, Severus," she said, "It happened ten years ago for me. I know exactly- well almost exactly, what happens during these five months, and I _do_ know exactly what will happen in the ten years after I return, because I have already lived through those ten years."

"And in all this time, you have never discovered why?" I pressed her, wondering when in the future she would start calling me by my first name. A deep feeling of unease was starting to fill me, as if there was something extremely important here that I was missing— or that was about to happen.

"No," she said shortly, "And neither have you."

My gaze almost tightened into a glare, but I restrained myself. This Hermione was much more self confident than the one I was used to. She certainly expressed her own opinion, she always had, even as a student, but this older her… She acted as if she knew me better than I knew myself. That made me angry, but it also contributed to the feeling of unease. I wanted to keep asking her questions, but I had the feeling she would only get more obstinate. I would wait. I _could_ wait, and easily.

"Five months?" I inquired, raising an eyebrow at her.

She nodded, and smiled, a true smile this time, "Five months."

"All right," I said, checking her once more for spells or jinxes. She seemed perfectly normal, but as soon as I got the chance I would have Madame Pomfrey give her a check up as well. I would also run a few more complicated spells when I got the chance. Preferably when she wasn't looking. But she was the real Hermione Granger. No aging spells, no dark wizards in disguise. There was nothing I could do but accept her words as truth, for now.

"What are you going to tell everyone else?" I asked of her as she started walking again, at a slightly more sedate pace. I kept stride with her easily.

"Hmm," she said, resting a finger on her chin thoughtfully, "Aging potion? Dark wizard in disguise?"

I stared at her and she winked and then said, "The truth, I suppose. They'll just have to accept it."

I stared at her more, feeling oddly discomfited, like I had missed something. I took a deep breath and said, "That will have to suffice… I will hold a staff meeting this evening, though by then everyone will already know, I imagine. Do you need anything? Are you sure there is nothing that can be done?"

"I am perfectly prepared to stay for five months," she answered with a smile, though I saw a flicker of doubt cross her face for a moment, and I wondered what it was about, "And to tell you the truth, I don't want to change this time. The things that happen now, and that happened to me while in the future… I don't want them to change, nor do I think it is possible for them to change. You see, Severus, for me, this is the _past_."

She smiled again, an intimate smile that lit up her whole face and made me feel uncomfortable once again. But then we entered the Great Hall, and I could dwell no more on the future Hermione came from, nor the things that she was clearly hiding from me.

**A/N: And now the story should make a little more sense! Thank you debjunk for reviewing the first chapter!**


	3. Hermione

I woke up in a strange bed. It was dark, but I could see light glowing around the edges of the thick maroon curtains that hung in front of the three windows opposite the bed. The room was large, airy too. On my side was a beautiful wooden dresser and mirror. The top was littered with a woman's accessories. No make up, but a few pieces of jewelry, and some odds and ends. On the other side was a more masculine wardrobe. The doors were closed. I could hear someone breathing heavily beside me, sounding as if they were still asleep.

I lay there frozen, under the heavy and warm sheets, peering sideways at the person sharing the strange bed with me. I still wore my pajamas from the night before- which meant I didn't have my wand. All I could see of my companion was thick, dark hair- probably black although I couldn't tell in the dim light. His breathing continued as before, and after a few minutes of frozen terror, my own breathing starting coming out easier, and my heart stopped pounding so hard. He didn't seem to be waking up any time soon. I slowly, very slowly, pulled myself into a sitting position, to get a better look around the room and at the person sharing my bed.

A painting hung on the wall behind me- something obscure and old. My eyes slid over it, not caring. Clothes were draped over an armchair in the corner. A man's long black robe and under clothing, the socks were on the floor, as if they'd been thrown there; there was also a woman's clothes. Her robe was green, elegantly cut, and half on the floor. A feeling of unease entered me. What was I doing here? It certainly didn't _seem_ like a room of captivity. It felt like waking up in someone else's bed. Oddly enough, I found I liked the room.

I peered down at the person in the bed beside me, but his face was hidden under an arm and part of a pillow. The sheets were pulled all the way up to his chin. I could just make out the edge of some stubble, and the shoulder length hair draping itself over the pillow. Streaks of gray ran through it. I stared at him for a long time, what felt like hours to me, listening to him breathe. He seemed to have no intention of waking any time soon. A clock on the wall opposite me said it was six thirty in the morning. There were two doors- one which was closed and the other which was cracked open.

Very, very carefully, I pulled the sheets back and slid out of the bed. My feet met warm, carpeted floor. I stood there for a moment, goose bumps on my legs from the difference in temperature, and watched the sleeping man. He still did not wake. I tiptoed over to the door that was cracked and tried to peer through it, but there was only darkness beyond it. With a slight sigh and with shaking fingers, I touched the door handle, after a glance back at the sleeper. I pulled it open, very slowly, my ears pricked for any sound.

I jumped when the door let out a loud creak, and a few lamps flickered into life inside the room- the bathroom, it appeared. There was a grunt from the bed, and these words issued forth, "Morning sickness again? I thought that was over now…"

I jumped into the bathroom and slammed the door, my heart pounding. My hands, cold and damp with sweat, clutched the door handle, praying he wouldn't try and wrench it open. _Oh shit oh shit oh shit_, I kept thinking. The words ran like a litany over and over in my head. How had I ended up here? Where was here? The idea of kidnapping was leaving my brain… but that only left me more confused. Had I gotten drunk? I didn't _remember_ ever getting drunk, or drinking, for that matter… However, the thing that scared me most was that I suspected I recognized that voice that had spoken to me as if I was supposed to be someone he knew…

"Damn it," I heard from the bedroom, and my hands tightened around the door handle, "She _told_ me I'd forget."

I risked a glance around the bathroom. It was large, and ornate. The tub was inviting and the shampoo that rested on the edge was my own favorite. The walls were a dark turquoise. But then my attention was at the door once more. I wondered if I had been hasty in jumping in here… he clearly knew I was there, though if he knew who I was, was up for debate. Morning sickness?

"Hermione?" the voice asked, and suddenly I knew who it was, why I recognized it. My breathing almost stopped, and I wasn't sure whether or not to be happier or more terrified. It was the voice of my once Potions Master and now employer, Severus Snape.

"You can open the door," he said, and I could tell he was standing just outside. I shivered and slowly pushed the door back open, peering around at the Headmaster. Was this Hogwarts we were at? If so, it was a part I'd never seen before.

"Come out," he instructed, stepping backwards. He was wearing a bathrobe now, I noticed with relief- plain, long, and black.

I stepped out and peered at him, unsure of what to say. Was I supposed to know why I was here? Did he know why? I glanced at the woman's robe half on the chair- it definitely wasn't mine, nor had his first remarks seemed directed at me but… I sincerely hoped that what had happened the night before had _not_ been what usually happened the night before for people who cannot remember it and wake up in strange beds. And… Snape looked older. Those gray streaks certainly hadn't been there yesterday. Nor those wrinkles. He looked like he'd aged a decade. What was going on?

There was a sudden wail from somewhere else in the… house? Set of rooms? It sounded like a child crying, and Snape, without discussion, turned around and quickly moved off through the other door, his bare feet quiet on the carpeted floor.

He left the door open but I stayed where I was, frozen in indecision and fear. _What had happened?_ I wracked my brains, but nothing I remembered from the day before seemed amiss. I simply had no explanation. I peered around the room once again, wondering if it was Snape's. It looked like it belonged to two people- a man and a woman's. This suggested to me perhaps it was _not_ Snape's, because last I knew he certainly wasn't living with anyone. Not that I would know. Still… if he had loved once, it was possible he could love again… Not that love was a necessity for living with someone.

I decided to follow him. Though his words had at first been confusing, I had the feeling he knew what was going on. The crying had stopped, and all I heard was silence. Things were oddly out of place. He had mentioned morning sickness, and there had been a baby crying. If it wasn't Snape, I'd think I had woken up in the place of someone's wife, a wife that was pregnant, into a family household.

So I quietly padded along the carpet and out into a long hallway, also carpeted. A door a way's down was open and I could heard a low voice speaking softly, crooning, as if to a child. Snape's child? I pulled my arms around myself and walked down the hall towards the open door. There I stopped, and stared inside, frozen once more into shock.

It was, as I guessed, a child's room. There was a crib, and Snape was standing by it, holding a dark haired baby in his arms. She looked about two years old, not really a baby but still very young. She was smiling now, and her eyes were bright as she gazed up at Snape. It was an image I never imagined seeing. But this Snape… this older Snape… it seemed to fit him.

"Her name is Adeline," he said, and I was startled at the tenderness in his voice. I was almost positive this was his daughter. But since when did Snape have kids?

"What's going on here?" I finally asked, staring at him inquiringly, "Where are we? Why am I here? What happened?"

He smiled at me, and I was startled to see an affection similar to the one he'd had when gazing at Adeline, in his eyes when looking at me. I glanced over my shoulder, just to make sure he _was_ looking at me. Then I decided to assume he was still just looking affectionate from holding his daughter… If it was his daughter. I was starting to go from frightened to annoyed— because the look in his eyes said that he knew _exactly_ what was going on, and it was amusing him.

"It's a very long story," he said, "But to summarize, you've traded places with your future self. You'll be here for five months. We don't know why it happened. You've come ahead ten years; your future self, the one I know as the present you, is going to take your place for five months."

Then he smirked, and added, "Which I remember as happening ten years ago." Then he smirked some more.

I would have glowered at him for smirking so much, but I was too busy trying to comprehend what he had just said. Future? That explained why he looked older. My heart started to pound as I thought over his words… traded places… with my future self. Something wasn't clicking, but my subconscious was already reacting to whatever it was. _Traded places_… Which meant… my future self… my future self lived in this house? My thoughts paused, then added on: my future self sleeps in that bed. Another pause. My brain must have been in denial it was working so slow. My future self sleeps in that bed _with Snape_. My jaw dropped. I felt faint. My heart pounded and my vision went slightly blurry.

Snape quickly put down Adeline and stepped over to me, concern written across his face. He hesitated in front of me though. I blinked and stared at him, feeling suddenly torn between extreme embarrassment and extreme, total confusion. My brain was just thinking over and over and over again _What? What? WHAT?_

"Mama," Adeline said, as if to emphasize her father's words. She had moved to stand in the crib nearest to me, and her hands clutched the railing while she gazed at me. My heart almost stopped.

Snape's hand reached out, in a movement that looked subconscious, and stroked the little girl's hair. I stared at her. She stared back at me. I stared at her. She stared back at me. _My daughter_ stared back at me. I fainted.

**A/N: A little more of the puzzle revealed! Much thanks and love to those who reviewed chapter two!! This IS the time traveling SS/HG scenario again, as some of you have pointed out, but I hope you will find it enjoyable different!  
**


	4. Severus II

Hermione and I entered the Great Hall together. It was still early, and only a few students were there, looking blearily at their food as they ate. It was a slightly different Great Hall than the one everyone had known, before the war. It had been rebuilt, of course, but nothing rebuilt ever looks _exactly_ the same. It was hard to pinpoint the differences, but they were there. It was somehow… shinier. I sighed, and took my place at the center of the staff table. Hermione sat down beside me, not her usual place. I didn't complain though. I wanted to keep my eye on her. I did not trust her.

"My word, Hermione!" Minerva exclaimed from Hermione's other side. I discreetly looked at the Deputy Headmistress's expression, and suddenly I knew why Hermione was amused. A smirk twitched at my lips but I resolutely kept it back.

"Curious incident of time travel," I explained before the Hermione replacement could answer, "I shall explain everything at a staff meeting this evening."

I missed Hermione's glare as I looked at my plate, but I knew she had sent it anyway. I was ruining her fun. I looked at my plate a little longer, then told it what I wished for breakfast. It appeared a few seconds later and I started eating.

There was an unusual silence at the staff table that morning. Hermione had opted for quietness, and for that I was grateful. As the rest of the Professors came in for breakfast they stared at Hermione, puzzled. None of the students could tell, from what I saw. They were all too busy chatting to each other. I wondered what their reaction would be when they found out their favorite Professor, as she was, had just aged ten years. I wondered how she would explain it to them. I wondered if she was telling the entire truth. I was fairly sure that she _had_ traveled back in time, but whether or not her younger self had gone forward, and if she truly didn't know the reason, this I doubted. As soon as classes were over for the day I intended to have a long talk with her. A _very_ long talk.

OOO

I had a House Elf send Owls to all the Professors, alerting them about the staff meeting. Hermione, I instructed to meet me in my office an hour and a half earlier. I was slightly reassured to learn that she was still in the employ of Hogwarts in the future- one less job position to worry about. It also meant that the curse the Dark Lord had placed on the position had disappeared with his death. At least… I thought she had implied she was still teaching. I would have to ask her during the meeting.

I was sitting at my desk, the one that Albus had sat behind so many times while I paced before him or slumped in one of the chairs in front of the desk. I was gazing into space absentmindedly when she knocked on my door— it no longer bothered me to reside in the place where I still felt Albus belonged. Truth be told, my thoughts were on Lily. I could still picture her clearly in my mind- a fact, no doubt, that was only true because I still had pictures of her. For some reason she had kept entering my mind throughout the day, distracting me, making the old ache of her death resurface in my heart… I would never forgive myself.

"Come in," I said a moment after Hermione knocked, allowing myself time to straighten up and put on a severe expression. I was going to get some answers.

She strode in gracefully— somehow being older made her look taller, and she sat herself in a chair across from me. Her expression was light, but serious, though I thought I detected a twinkle in the back of her eye… her amusement, still there, but hiding. For a moment I was glad that the Hermione of this time was not like this, and glad I had ten years before she turned into this woman.

"Hermione," I said, once more feeling strange to be saying her given name, though again she did not seem to notice, "I want the entire truth from you now. There are things you are hiding and I do not need Veritaserum to know if someone is telling the truth or not."

She was silent and just waited for me to go on. I had expected some sort of snide remark, but I let it slide and continued talking.

"To make it clear… you have traveled back in time exactly ten years? You went to sleep in your bed in the future the night before, and you woke up in the present Hermione Granger's rooms, in her bed, this morning?" I asked, choosing my words with care.

"Correct," she said. Her voice betrayed no emotion. I wondered when the verbal sparring would start. How long until she couldn't hold back her amusement?

I sighed, and inquired, "You made no use of a time turner?"

"I did not," she replied, "The traveling occurred during sleep, as it did last time."

I was momentarily confused, but then I realized she was referring to her own timeline. For if she told the truth, her present self was now in the future, having traveled in a similar way. It made no sense. Time travel simply didn't work that way, and it was only possibly in one direction. To the past. She should know all that too— I suspected the involvement of a Time Turner in her third year, though that had never been confirmed. Maybe I would learn about that now too. Sirius Black may have been innocent, but it still made me angry to think of how the three of them had _thwarted_ me.

"Hmm," I decided to say, and I let myself look thoughtful before asking, "You are sure that the present Hermione is not still here… simply displaced in space and not in time?"

"I am sure," she said, "Because as evidence has shown, time cannot truly been changed. The future is as set in stone as the past. If this time, I did not go to the future, then _I_ would not be here."

This was true, but she wasn't dealing the fact that I might just not believe her flat out. Of course, if what she said was true, she already knew this. Maybe that's why she was being quiet. How much did she know of the five months to come? She hadn't lived them yet, she'd only had them recounted.

"What did your students think?" I finally inquired of her, deciding to switch the subject momentarily. Plus I was curious.

"Amused," she said with a smirk. Damn that smirk.

"Also frustrated," she said, this time with a true smile, "A few of them have found I am not so easy to push around with ten more years of teaching experience."

Aha. So she _was_ still teaching.

"You are still teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts, in the future?" I asked, to make sure.

She nodded, then said, "Listen…. Severus, I'm not lying. I really _did_ travel to the future, improbable as it seems. My younger self is not wandering the world alone and forlorn somewhere. Do you really think I would let that happen to myself?"

"If it already happened, you would," I pointed out.

She sighed and said, "But it _wouldn't_ have happened. That's the point. But we really don't need to go through all this suspicion. You're going to believe me eventually, why not now? I'll go through the motions of research with you… who knows, maybe _I_ find an explanation and don't get a chance to explain it to you until ten years from now… But I am not lying, and it really has happened."

"There is no… particular reason you have come back? It is entirely out of your control?" I prompted, wanting to ask before her choice of words made me suspicious again. Something was nagging at me in the back of my mind. She was too familiar with me… but thinking about that would have to wait.

"No reason," she sighed, then smiled at me and suddenly Lily's face flashed before my eyes as I realized Hermione was pretty.. and that smile… she had just smiled as if that smile was meant for me, and me alone. My unease returned in full force.

"You aren't coming back to try and change some horrible future?" I quickly asked, to distract myself, recognizing that my question contradicted one of her earlier statements… that the past and future were set in stone.

"No," she shook her head, "No reason… no warning of a Voldemort risen from the dead or some new dark wizard… No catastrophe. No horror. Ten years from now, Severus, the world is a wonderful place to live in."

Then she smiled again, the same intimate smile. I decided to ignore it, and I just stared at her, hiding my unease behind an emotionless gaze.

"Then I will wait patiently, contented, for it to arrive," I said, and I knew the conversation was over, though I felt like I hadn't gotten to interrogate her as nearly as much as I had planned. She was more charismatic than the younger Hermione. I had a sneaking suspicion she had outwitted me.

OOO

The staff meeting went smoother than I had anticipated. I simply stood up, summarized what Hermione had told me, and then let the discussion begin. Most of it was benign: questions were thrown at Hermione from all sides of the room, asking her why and how, asking her what the future was like. She deflected most of the future telling questions with vague replies, and was unable to elaborate on the how's and why's of her situation, so the questioning didn't last long.

It was only half an hour until it was over, and everyone left except Hermione and Minerva. I appreciated the woman more than I had when Albus was alive. Minerva was intuitive and resourceful— she had known I wanted her to stay. Sometimes I wondered if she felt resentful about my position as Headmaster, though she assured me she was perfectly happy to wait until I retired to don more responsibilities. I still wasn't sure I believed her, but I accepted her words because it was the only way to give myself a peace of mind.

"Minerva?" I inquired, glancing at her once as the last Professor left the room. I always held my staff meetings in the dungeons for it stopped people from lingering. Let them socialize on their own time, not mine.

"I think she's telling the truth," Minerva said, giving Hermione a soft smile, "And I see no reason to doubt her."

Of course, Minerva always favored Hermione… But at the same time she was right. The Hermione we knew was certainly trustworthy, though ten years was plenty of time for someone to change. Yet I suspected she hadn't. I sighed, and conceded to what Hermione had said was the inevitable.

"All right then," I said, pacing a few steps across the room, "What are we going to do about it?"

"Nothing we can do but wait," Hermione quickly said, "It's going to be five months, no matter what happens."

"You are certain it is not your own actions that make it so?" Minerva asked.

Hermione looked mildly startled and I felt a brief surge of triumph; so she didn't know everything after all. But then she regained her composure and shook her head.

"Yes, I am certain," she said, but she didn't look it, "Severus said we didn't figure anything out, and I know we didn't in the future either."

It took me a moment to sort the exact meaning of her words. What she meant was that when her younger self returned, _I_ told that younger Hermione that myself and _this_ Hermione did not figure anything out. It was disconcerting to have her talk of the present as the past. The second part meant that in the future… apparently with me again, her younger self and my older self would also fail to discover the cause or reason behind the time traveling. A tiny shiver went down my spine as I realized that it was not just five months, as she had said. It was five months for her, but after she was gone, ten years from now I would have to do it all over again. I wondered what it would be like to see the Hermione I knew slowly change into this Hermione, and then get to see the younger Hermione all over again for five months in the future.

I glanced at Minerva. She looked slightly flustered too.

"It is certainly amazing though," she said, "To travel ten years through time? Unheard of. I have trouble accepting the fact that I will have to wait at least ten years to know how it is done. And to travel to the future as well…"

"I know," Hermione said with a smile, "I've been waiting. I wish I could tell you we've figured it out in the future, but if we had figured it out in the future I would have told you and then I wouldn't have had to figure it out because I'd already have known…"

She made it sound so easy to understand. A headache had slowly been building in my mind all day. I decided I hated time travel. Too messy and confusing. I'd never used a Time Turner myself, but I'd read enough books about it to be thoroughly disillusioned by the idea of it.

There was silence in the room, and then Hermione suddenly laughed. Minerva and I stared at her.

She sighed and said, "I was just remembering what my past self is now going through in the future… In my time, that is. This time around is so much easier."

I frowned at her. Of course it was easier. _She_ knew what was coming.

**A/N: Thank you for taking the time to read this chapter! I would absolutely love to hear your thoughts on it. I know there's a lot of you who are reading but not reviewing, and I'd appreciate it if you gave your thoughts every chapter or so, so I know how to keep writing! Beyond that note, I would like to extend much thanks to those who DID review the last chapter! As a note, if you have any questions for me, I will be happy to answer them here (though I won't give anything away). **


	5. Hermione II

**A/N: My apologies about the confusion some of you have been experiencing! The chapters alternate narrators, from younger Snape to younger Hermione and so on, as indicated by the chapter title. Hope that clears things up! The prologue is and will be the only exception. **

I woke up back in the bedroom. My first thought was that I still didn't even know if we were at Hogwarts or not. My second was that I really didn't feel like thinking about anything else… My head was already starting to hurt and the memories that flashed before my eyes. I just couldn't believe it. _I was married to Snape_. No way. Just no way. This had to be some sort of weird alternate future. I didn't doubt it was the future, no other way Snape would be looking so much older. I also doubted he could fake that tenderness in his eyes when he looked at Adeline, so she had to be his daughter. Our daughter. I shuddered.

What had happened to Ron? Last I remembered I was fully intending to marry him, and he was fully intending to marry me. I think. He hadn't proposed yet, but Harry said he was going to, that he just had to get up the guts to ask. It wasn't to the point where I was going to ask him myself, not yet anyway. I sighed, and wrapped my arms around myself, wishing Ron were here with me…

But apparently I was not alone in the room. My movement must have alerted whoever it was that I was awake, for there was a sudden movement near the foot of the bed as someone stood up out of the chair that no longer had clothing littered on it. My face burned as I realized a few other implications of what being married to Snape with children entailed. But those thoughts rapidly left my head as I saw who it was.

"Harry!" I yelped, sitting up and jumping out of bed.

"Hey careful," he smiled, stepping over to wrap me in a hug, "You hit your head when you fainted. How do you feel?"

"Awful," I said and made a face, hugging him hard before pulling back to look at the thirty year old version of the Harry I knew. He looked older, but still the same. His hair still stuck up, he still had his scar on his forehead, and his glasses still perched on his nose. It was a relief to see a semi-familiar face. I didn't count Snape. I wasn't sure I wanted to see him again any time soon, though if what he said about five months was true I supposed I'd have to come to grips with my future eventually…

"Hey it's okay," Harry said, sitting down on the bed. I sat down beside him, feeling in need of a shower and clean clothing. At least I'd have clothes here that fit…

"Ron isn't coming," Harry continued, "I convinced him to stay away for the first couple of days at least. He understands… that it would be hard for you to see him, now."

"You mean…" I swallowed, not sure if I could say it, "Because I'm married to Snape?"

Harry laughed, and I glowered at him, but he quickly explained, "I haven't heard you call him that in years… Now it's Severus this and Severus that."

I grimaced and he laughed again. He was taking way too much amusement in this. I wondered how he could be so light hearted about it… Then again if we already had a two year old we must have been married for at least that many years… So he'd had time to get used to it.

"How…?" I asked quietly, but was unable to form the question. I stared straight ahead, suddenly feeling like crying. I fought back the tears.

"How did it happen?" Harry finished for me and I nodded gratefully.

"Well…" he said, and leaned back on his hands, "Your future self is now in the past. You switched, for some reason. We still don't know why. You… I mean your future self… already married to Snape… pretty much ended up letting him, in the past, well your present, know what happened. And us too. You won't need to worry about explaining anything to Ron, your future self is already doing that for you."

A lump in my throat welled up and then I couldn't keep myself from crying. I reached over for Harry and he wrapped his arms around me. I didn't miss the look of surprise on his face, but I didn't think on it at that moment.

"I don't _want_ to break up with Ron!" I wailed, "Why is she doing that? Why did _I_ do that? I want to marry Ron!"

As my sobs slowly faded, Harry pushed me away to look me straight in the eye. His expression was concerned and he said, "You mean you're still in love with him, right now?"

"Yes," I answered, "Why wouldn't I be?"

He frowned, "Because you seemed relieved when you got back… when you get back I suppose. Relieved that Ron already knew."

I stared at him, and comprehension dawned. I choked out, "You mean… _now_ is when I fall in love with him?"

Harry looked slightly uncomfortable and confused, but Snape chose that moment to reappear. He was dressed now, wearing black wizard's robes- the same he wore in my time.

"Yes," he said with a soft smile, "_Now_ is when you fall in love with me. Believe me, I don't understand it either."

I stared at him blankly. I had no idea how to react to his presence. He at once repulsed me and sparked my curiosity. I mean… it was _Snape_. I couldn't _imagine_ falling in love with him, being with him, kissing him… I forced my thoughts to stop there. Yet apparently I had. Adeline was living proof of that. I wondered once more if this was some weird alternate future… or some bizarre, intensely realistic dream.

"It's real," he whispered, so quietly I almost didn't here. I shivered at the intimacy of his voice- both attractive and terrifying. Harry was silent beside me. Apparently it still made him uncomfortable, the idea of us being together.

"Do you want to come stay with me for a while?" Harry asked and I moved my gaze back to him, staring at him in uncertainty. I wanted badly to accept, but I wondered what effect that would have on Snape.

"Go," he said softly, but I saw the flash of pain cross his face as he spoke, "You'll be back in a few weeks."

For a moment I was confused. Was he ordering that I be back in a few weeks? What was _that_? Then I realized… if my future self was now in my own time, then she had already experienced this. Therefore she knew what happened and could have told Snape… which was how he knew with easy certainty how long I'd stay with Harry. I shivered. I did not like this at all. It was too… out of control. Like I was being thrown onto a path I didn't want and everyone and everything around me was pushing me down it. I felt a wave of helplessness wash over me. I didn't _want_ to fall in love with Snape, the very thought repulsed me! How could I love him if I didn't want to? How could they all be so sure it would happen? I thought of Adeline again and sighed softly, my eyes feeling damp again. No more tears though.

How in the hell did _he_ end up loving me, anyway? I glanced over at the doorway, but he had gone. I sighed again and looked at Harry. His expression was troubled.

"I'm going to find something to wear, take a shower and get dressed," I told him, "I assume I'm the same size in the future?"

"Well," Harry said, "Not for long- I mean, you're pregnant. Your future self, I mean. Again."

I stared at him. It was as I had guessed, but to hear him state it so awkwardly... I sighed and stood up, moving over to the dresser. I pulled open the drawers and starting digging through the clothing. Unlike Muggle clothes, robes were more lenient to changing sizes, and most of the things looked like they would fit. I heard Harry stand up and mutter something about waiting in the living room. I didn't respond, my mind was too busy hovering between sheer blankness and a crazy whirl of thoughts.

OOO

I took a long shower, ignoring the fact that it was exactly how I would have arranged it and just enjoying the luxurious bathroom and hot shower. Some things would never change, I supposed. I wondered about the me in the future that would live here- and I realized I still didn't even know where _here_ was. I would ask Harry… or Snape… when I got out of the shower. I knew I should really be thinking about everything that had happened, but with the hot water pouring over my shoulders… I just _really_ didn't feel like it.

I got out and toweled myself dry with a tower I found folded up in the cupboard under the sink. When I peered into the bedroom, it was empty, and the door was closed, so I carefully, and quickly, got changed. Oddly enough I found some of my old clothing in the future me's dresser. It was creepy, because it made me realize that the future me really _was_ me. I kept thinking of her in terms of a person dramatically changed… but no my favorite green robe was still there- the first I bought when I knew I'd never need a Hogwart's uniform any more. It looked a lot older, but I could tell it was well loved.

When I was dressed I went over to the window closest to my dresser, and pushed back the heavy drapes. Bright sunlight hit my eyes and I winced, then peered outside at the sweeping grounds of Hogwarts. I felt relief wash through my body, and for a moment wondered why. But it was so good to be somewhere familiar, somewhere relatively unchanged. The people would be strangers, certainly after ten years. I wondered if McGonagall was still teaching.

There was a knock on the door and I jumped, but then I heard Harry's voice, "Hey Hermione? You want some breakfast?"

My stomach rumbled then, suddenly, and I realized I was.

"Yes, Harry! Please!" I said, then added, "Wait, I'm coming out."

I hurried over to the door and pulled it open. Harry stood there, grinning at me. I stared at him, surprised again by how much older he looked.

"What's it like being an Auror?" I asked him suddenly, "You're still in training… in my time."

"I know," he said cheerfully, "Well- I remember being in training when you came back from the future. Weird now… that the Hermione I met ten years ago is the Hermione I know now, and the Hermione I knew back then is… you."

"Tell me about it," I glowered with a frown and stepped out into the hallway. I wondered why none of these rooms had stone walls… had that been my idea, or his? Somehow I suspected it was mine.

"It's actually pretty uninteresting right now," Harry said as we started walking down the hallway, "Being an Auror, I mean. Not too many wizards are keen on being Dark Wizards after Voldemort."

"Yes," I replied, no longer feeling interested. As we passed Adeline's room I peered in, but she wasn't there anymore. Neither was Snape.

The hallway ended in a large room that seemed part living room, part dining room, part playroom. Adeline was sitting on the carpet in the center of the room, where a little yellow dress that didn't entirely cover her diaper. She was staring up at Snape, who was lounging on the sofa that was against the far wall. He looked up as we came in and his expression was immediately serious.

"Enjoy your shower?" he inquired of me softly, and I couldn't tell if he was simply being polite or if he was making fun of me somehow…

"It was very nice," I answered uncomfortably, then glanced at Harry for help.

Snape smirked. He _had_ been making fun of me. I tried not to frown at him and wondered if he had been like this in my time. I was almost sure he had been much more serious, more prone to sneer than to smirk. I wondered in the back of my mind if _I_ was the reason for the change. I hoped not.

"What do you want for breakfast?" Harry inquired, breaking the awkward silence that had begun to fill the room.

I looked at Adeline and realized she was staring at me. I couldn't tell if the expression was suspicious or just curious. Did she realize I wasn't the person I had been the day before? Her baby-pudgy arms lifted up towards me and a pleading expression crossed her face. I almost panicked, not sure what to do or if I'd just upset her more or… anything, but then calm washed over me as I regained my sense. She was just a baby. Not dangerous. She wouldn't get upset if I was somehow different than the Hermione she knew.

I stepped over and picked her up, resting her on my hip and wrapping both my arms around her, cradling her against myself. She smelled that baby sweet scent, faintly like sour milk. I hadn't too much experience with babies, but I knew the basics. Adeline immediately rested her head against me with an almost inaudible sigh. I found myself smiling. She was so warm and soft and delightful to hold. I shifted my arms slightly so I could stroke her thin dark hair with one hand, and my heart melted. I loved her. Even though I'd only known her for a few minutes, even though I wasn't sure I was ready to believe she was really mine, or at least, the future me's mine, I loved her.

"Baby," I whispered into her hair, just for her ears.

Harry cleared his throat and I looked over at him, suddenly embarrassed. Adeline snuggled closer to me in my arms and I almost sighed with happiness. Harry was grinning and I gave him a glare before smiling back.

"I don't really care," I said, then added for clarification, "what I have for breakfast. Whatever the House Elves have prepared for the students."

Then I looked at Snape and said, "We _are_ at Hogwarts?"

"Correct," he said with a nod, "As I am Headmaster and you are a Professor it is more fitting that we keep our rooms here, rather than in Hogsmeade or elsewhere."

Suddenly I wanted to ask him a thousand more questions, all little ones about the future, not the big ones… like how we'd fallen in love, if he really loved me, _why_ he loved me, why I loved _him_… What could he possibly see in me? What would I see in him? I mean, I already respected him, he was a great wizard, no doubt, but so was Dumbledore and I wasn't marrying _him_. But that was not what I wanted to ask him. I wanted to ask him if he enjoyed being Headmaster, where the name Adeline came from, what we enjoyed doing together…

Snape didn't seem to notice the look of intense curiosity that must have been on my face, because after he answered my question he just looked away and said, apparently into the air, "Mimi?"

A house elf appeared, wearing the traditional outfit of a Hogwart's elf. She turned to Snape and asked, "Yes, Master Snape?"

"Some breakfast for Hermione, please," he said, and Mimi disappeared with a pop.

The three of us stood in around in awkward silence then. Well- except for Adeline. She was comfortable. I wondered if Snape and I ever went out with Harry and Ron… and if we did was it always like this? Awkward between the once enemies? I looked at Harry thoughtfully, but his gaze hovered near the floor. He looked thoughtful.

Mimi reappeared then, holding a tray with a plate steaming with eggs, sausage, and baked beans. She placed the tray on a table off to the side. I wondered how often we ate here, privately, and how often we ate in the Great Hall. In a quick movement, as Mimi set down the tray, Snape had stood up and was at my side.

"I'll take Adeline," he said, holding out his arms for her. I reluctantly relinquished the baby, but she was just as happy to be in Snape's arm as mine. My arms had actually been getting tired of holding her- she wasn't really a baby anymore, but I hadn't minded.

I ate breakfast quickly, not paying attention to the food, though it was good. My head was starting to throb and so I was trying not to think about the fact that I was now ten years in my own future where I was married to Snape. Nope, not thinking about it at all. Snape disappeared some time while I was shoveling in eggs, but Harry hovered around, standing by the table, then walking around the living room, inspecting it as if he were thinking of moving in himself. I think he was actually feeling awkward himself, because he stayed silent. Or maybe he thought I needed room. I knew that what I really needed to do was leave. Having this improbable future shoved in my face with every word I heard spoken, every time I looked around… it was mentally wearing. I wondered if it would get better.

**A/N: So that's the newest chapter! Hugs for all who were kind enough to tell me what they thought of the last chapter, it really helps! (Hint hint to all of you who didn't review.) **


	6. Severus III

"I'm fairly sure I'm fine, but I'll indulge you," Hermione Granger said to me with a amused sort of sigh, "I need to get in touch with Madame Pomfrey anyway."

I had just informed her that I intended for her to visit Madame Pomfrey to make sure that there were no adverse affects upon her health as a result of the time traveling. How exasperating it was to deal with someone who knew the future. I almost felt like giving in and saying she didn't have to go since she clearly knew she was going to be fine, but then I realized that maybe she knew this because she _had_ gone to see Madame Pomfrey and… I sighed and lifted one hand to rub my temples.

Minerva had just left, leaving Hermione and I alone. It wasn't late yet but I was already getting tired. This little 'freak accident of time travel' was very frustrating to think about. Nothing like it had ever happened, and it was in my nature to have an explanation. But there was none, and from what Hermione said I wouldn't know until at least ten years. Granted that wasn't _too_ long but still… it was frustrating to be ignorant. Doubly so, because Hermione kept parading her knowledge of the future around like a walking encyclopedia. I wondered if she acted like such a know it all in all subjects, and then I wondered how it was possible she had friends if that were true. She had certainly paraded her knowledge in _my_ classes… even when I hadn't asked about it. Thinking back, I wasn't so sure she had been doing it to show off to her classmates. As I'd grown to know her in her seven years at Hogwarts I was starting to suspect it was just in her nature to do as much as humanely possible. Though she depended too much on straight memorization of books. Not enough creativity. Maybe that was why she hadn't figured out her little time travel experience yet. It didn't seem to bother her that much though… I wondered why.

"I will escort you there," I said to her curtly and exited the dungeon classroom where I held my staff meetings. I heard Hermione's soft footsteps behind me and felt a fresh wave of frustration wash over me. It wasn't just the situation, it was Hermione herself that was frustrating.

I held the door open for her as we reached the Hospital Wing and then followed her inside. Madame Pomfrey was tending to a student, a first year by the looks of it. The small Hufflepuff was sitting on the edge of a bed, looking slightly dazed. I couldn't see any sign of physical injury, but perhaps the Nurse had already taken care of it. I stepped off to the side to wait, and Hermione moved to stand next to me, still exuding a feeling of superiority. I stayed silent. I didn't feel like talking to her anymore that day. Once I got back to my own rooms, I'd figure out what sort of tests I could do on her to establish the legitimacy of her claim. I'd have to interrogate her some more, but that would have to be a gradual process.

A few minutes later, Madame Pomfrey had escorted the boy out, and she turned to us, looking at Hermione with a growing expression of alarm. I wasn't amused this time, in fact, it just made me feel tired. I glanced at her, and to my surprise her expression of amusement was absent and instead she looked tired too. Had it been a long day for her, as well?

"Time travel," I sighed when Hermione didn't immediately speak, "She has no idea why- apparently Miss Granger has been propelled into the future ten years, and this one is taking her place. I wanted to make sure the time travel had no adverse affects on her health."

What I didn't say was that I also wanted to know, though it seemed silly to think of it, if she was _real_. If she was still human… To have traveled from the future? It was so incredible that though I had accepted it, I still didn't _comprehend_ it.

"Ah!" Madame Pomfrey exclaimed, looking enlightened. I wished that much of an explanation would be enough for me.

The Nurse led Hermione over to a bed, and sat her down, saying, "Ten years, hmm?"

Hermione nodded. I stayed where I was, watching… and listening. I wanted to know right away if anything was out of the ordinary, even though Hermione had asserted she was perfectly fine. I wondered how much detail she really had about this five months. She certainly couldn't know it all, minute by minute.

"And when is your baby due?" the Nurse's voice drifted over to me as I thought. My head jerked up, and my eyes instinctively went to Hermione's stomach. I hadn't noticed, because she was already changed physically in ten years, but I supposed she _was_ a bit larger there than she should have been, and it didn't look quite like just weight gain. The next place my eyes went was her left hand and I spotted it immediately. A wedding ring. I wondered if Weasley was the lucky father… they seemed close in this time, but things changed in ten years. I felt an odd surge of irrational jealousy, but it was quickly pushed away. Lily had married James, and that was long in the past. _Long_ in the past. I wondered if… if things had been different, if I would have had children. Somehow I doubted it. Though I had ended up as a Professor, children were not my strong suit.

"In roughly five months," Hermione answered Madame Pomfrey with a long intake of breath. I thought I could guess where that was from, and then I realized where her unease had come from this morning when she mentioned her preparation for staying five months. So she didn't know everything. There were things she was worried about. This made me feel relieved somehow… it made her more human, more like the Hermione Granger I knew. She wasn't going to smirk her way through all these five months.

Twenty minutes later Hermione was released with a clean bill of health. That is, if you could call having a four month old parasite inside you being healthy. Somehow it was strange to think of Hermione being pregnant. I still thought of her as a child, an intelligent, annoying, fierce child, but still a child. She was a good Professor but she still had a lot to learn. To see her now truly grown up, married, with a growing family… It made me feel old. Old and lonely.

"How did you find my rooms?" I asked her suddenly as we were walking down the hallways, back towards _her_ rooms I presumed.

She smirked at me and I cursed myself inwardly. Just me to get her back onto a topic she would be smug about. However, the smirk quickly disappeared, and the somewhat melancholy Hermione from a little before returned. Apparently her concern about her pregnancy was enough to overshadow the amusement she gained from knowing the future. Then again, she only knew five months ahead. Maybe that was what worried her, as well… If she had traveled into the future as a young woman, then she had truly known the future for ten years. After these five months ended… she would have no idea what was to come. No more than anyone else, that is, but ten years was plenty enough time to get used to knowing you would be safe and happy for a long period to come.

"You show me where they are," she answered simply, "A few months after I return."

I glanced at her, startled. I found myself suddenly curious about the future. What happened? Was I still Headmaster… I was apparently still alive since she was associating with me, which probably meant I _was_ still Headmaster.

"For practical reasons," she added a moment later… reassuring me? About what? I couldn't imagine I'd show her where my rooms were for anything other than a practical reason. It had startled me at first… but by the time she made that additional statement the fact had almost left my mind. I wondered if there was a real reason for her feeling the need to reassure me and I suddenly realized that _this_ Hermione, twenty-nine years old, was _not_ a child. Maybe that sounds obvious, but I hadn't ever thought of Hermione as a woman, yet now she clearly was one. She was only about ten years younger than me.

I left her at her rooms and then continued onto my own. They were the rooms that Dumbledore had once resided in, but barely a trace of their previous occupant remained. They connected directly to my office, though I knew they weren't physically located anywhere near each other. Another oddity of Hogwarts.

Instead of going to bed (it was still early), I went into my private library. While not as expansive as the Hogwarts library, it contained most of the texts I liked to have close at hand. I also felt the need to have a place to read in solitude. If I needed a book from the main library I could summon it easily enough. I didn't think I'd need to do that this time though. The books I was interested in were right in my own library.

I settled myself down into a large, soft chair and lit up the fire with a flick of my wand before summon the books I wanted. They soared through the shelves and landed on the reading table beside the chair. I let out a soft sigh of enjoyment, feeling relaxed and peaceful for the first time since I had left my rooms this morning.

OOO

The next morning Hermione was waiting outside my door again. Somehow, it didn't surprise me. I knew I should have been surprised, because really, what reason did she have for being there? But I figured I should have expected the unexpected with her. I had been planning on talking to her later in the day, letting my brain have a chance to wake up before having to deal with the realities of time travel. Oh well.

"Good morning," she said brightly. I wondered if any of her emotional changes were due to being pregnant or if it was because she was older. Then I realized it didn't really matter either way. I was just curious.

"Good morning," I answered, and without saying anything more, I turned down the hall and started walking past suits of armor towards the Great Hall. We wouldn't pass any students until we were almost there, for this was a little used hallway other than by myself.

"I wanted to tell you that even though I've already told you we don't figure it out…" she said, and to give her credit, she sounded sincere, not mocking, "I am interested in trying to figure it out. Well I mean, we do… we do try and figure it out and you at least don't find any answers. But I won't feel like it's a waste of time since even though this is the past for me, I can still make it useful. It isn't a waste of time."

I had the feeling her last statement had nothing to do with time travel, based on the subtle intonations in her voice, but I didn't ask about it. I wasn't particularly curious about _her_ future specifically. Just the future in general, and my own future. I had been planning about asking her about research today, but not in terms of the two of us doing research together, which was what she was implying. I had intended to ask her if she had any idea where I should start looking, and I had intended to get a full, detailed account of the act of time traveling. Even if she had truly been asleep, I wanted to know what happened before, and after, and what her dreams had been, if any.

"All right," I said briefly, "That suits me. I understand that it is possible that the research we do may affect the future, your future… even if it does not affect anything now. My curiosity wouldn't let me do otherwise, either way."

She smiled at me then, and I tried to recall what she looked like when smiling at other people, because (in my _infinite_ knowledge of women), that smile seemed to be implying quite a bit more than simply comradeship. Which was sarcasm of course. Other than Lily there have been no women in my life, and Lily doesn't even count because I was an idiot in my youth and ruined our friendship and then she had to go and marry _James_ of all people… In my darker moods I wonder if she did it just to spite me, but I know it isn't anywhere near true. Lily isn't, _wasn't_, that kind of person. If she married James, she did it because she truly loved him. I will never understand how that happened but I suppose anyone can be swayed by good looks and mistake arrogance for confidence… though Lily didn't seem to be the type to be swayed by that sort of thing. As much as it pained me to admit it, (and for the most part I really didn't), it seemed that James had probably changed.

"I know," she answered me, then, to my surprise, looked chagrined and she said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that I knew because I know the future. I meant that I know your curiosity wouldn't let you do otherwise. It was a personal statement, not in reference to the future."

So she didn't intend to smirk her way through these five months. Somehow that made me feel unsettled. Or maybe that feeling was coming from her other words. She had meant that statement to be personal? What did _that_ mean? I had a feeling I was going to be forced to confront some surprises about the coming future… like the fact that Hermione and I might be friends in the future. She certainly acted _far_ more comfortable around me than she had two days ago when she was her nineteen year old self. She also called me Severus, and seemed used to me calling her Hermione.

I suppose that wasn't such a terrible prospect to be facing. Just… unexpected. I respected her now, and I knew I had her respect. Whether or not it was from her knowing about my role as a spy and the danger I had entertained, the deeds I had done during the war, or from my knowledge as a Professor, I didn't know and didn't really care to know… until now. But there certainly had not been an sort of companionship between us once I hired her as Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor. Then again it had only been a month. I supposed ten years was enough time for friendship to develop. Not that I was _adverse_ to friendship but… it was unusual. I had subconsciously classed Hermione with Potter and Weasley to the point that I imagined she disliked me as much as the two boys did, but it hadn't taken the entire month of the school year for me to have to face the fact that this was false, and for to realize it had been false all along, but it was still hard for me to change my expectations. I expected dislike from her. It was distinctly odd to be getting the opposite from her now, and slightly unpleasant. Even if we_ were_ friends in the future we weren't now, and her over familiarity could get annoying very, very quickly.

"And what is a reference to the future?" I inquired of her, my voice holding a slightly cold tone (I couldn't help myself), "That you dare to estimate the levels of my curiosity?"

She sighed, and said, "Ah Sev… Severus."

She said nothing else, and we entered the great hall. She quickly went to sit down, and not next to me as she had the day before. My spine prickling, I took my place at the center of the table and rested my elbows in the table, weaving my fingers together to gaze out over the Great Hall. I hoped her pause had been in whether or not to call me Severus or Snape, and not whether or not to stop with just Sev, or continue on with my entire first name. The only person who had ever called me Sev in a sincere, friendly fashion had been Lily. It unsettled me to think that there might be someone else who would call me that.

**A/N: Sorry about the wait, I got home from college a few days ago and have been settling in, hanging out with family and stuff so haven't had time to sit down and upload this chapter. Hope you enjoyed it! (You should tell me if you did. Or if you didn't. :) ) Thanks to...  
debjunk, notwritten, sylphides, and Saavik13 who reviewed the last chapter!!  
**


	7. Hermione III

Harry was living in a small house on the edge of a slightly rural muggle community. He and Ginny had gotten married, so it wasn't a messy bachelor's house. It was… quaint. It was nice. It was the sort of thing I expected from the future.

It was also very, very noisy. Ginny was eight months pregnant with her and Harry's third child. The other two were both boys, three and two, named James and Albus. I was surprised that Harry even had the time to come and get me from Hogwarts, what with Ginny nearing the end of her pregnancy and the two boys at just the right age to get in a myriad of trouble.

Whatever, it was wonderful to be in this sort of future. When Harry had opened the door and escorted me in, Ginny, sitting on the sofa of the living room that the front door opened onto, had leapt to her feet with a squeal of delight and ran forward to wrap me in a tight hug- despite her protruding belly. Her hair was long, almost half way down her back, and right then she was wearing it loose. I was surprised to see that she looked older than me, which, logically, made sense. But it was still odd, after so long being the elder of the two.

"You're here!" Ginny exclaimed, stepping back to appraise me. I noticed over Ginny's shoulder two small faces peering out from another door shyly. The older looking one had red hair and brown eyes, and the other had Harry's hair and eye color. I smiled at them, feeling happy to find such a warm home in Harry's future, then turned back to Ginny.

"Yeah, I guess I am," I said to her, trying to look cheerful, which wasn't hard in regards to her happiness. But one thought kept intruding upon me, keeping my mood melancholy… and that was Ron. I sighed, pushing away the frown that threatened to creep up on me. I didn't feel like thinking about that right now.

"Let's move inside all the way," Harry said, nudging us in and closing the door. That is when I noticed the banner hanging over the sofa that read 'Holyhead Harpies'.

"How's Quidditch?" I asked, grasping at a subject that wasn't Ron, as we shuffled over to the kitchen that was to the right of the entrance.

"Still playing on and off," Ginny said with a smile, "I'm a Reserve now, what with James and Albus. I'm not playing right _now_, but once this baby is born I'll be back on broomstick!"

I smiled; it was like Ginny to not let a family life stop her from pursuing her own career. I wondered how much time Harry took off _his_ job to spend time with the kids. From there though my thoughts went to Snape and myself. I repressed a shiver. With both of us living and working at Hogwarts it didn't seem there'd really be much of a problem with who was watching the baby when. Then I wondered how I could think of things so logically when things were so upside down.

"You bring Adeline?" a voice piped up from off to the side and my gaze met that of the redhead, the one who looked older.

I stared at him for a moment before realizing he must have recognized me. Of course, I _would_ visit Harry and Ginny a lot in the future, so it made sense that Harry's kids would recognize me. And they looked around the same age as Adeline. Did Snape come with me ever? Harry had seemed relatively comfortable with the idea of us being… married… This time I was unable to stop a slight shiver of upset and disgust from creeping down my spine. I supposed it really wasn't possible that he had used a love potion on me, or somehow coerced me into marrying him… For one, he didn't seem like that kind of person, no matter how much of a bully he was, and the other… I couldn't imagine myself falling for that kind of thing. Harry's reaction played a large part in my trust. He seemed to have a comfortable attitude about it.

"Hermione, this is James," Harry introduced, waving at the one who had spoke, "The one who looks like me is Albus."

"Hey guys," I said with a smile, "No Adeline today, sorry."

"Hermione's going to be staying with us for a few weeks," Ginny informed her children, leaning against the table that occupied the center of the kitchen, "So you be good to her, all right? No waking her up at six in the morning! Save that for daddy."

"Hey," Harry said with a smile at Ginny, "Daddy doesn't like getting up early either."

James giggled and Albus looked at me suspiciously. Did he recognize something was different about me? Probably… kids are fairly observant. I smiled at both of them reassuringly, then looked back at Ginny. Two children and pregnant with another… A lot like me, I supposed. The me of the future that is. In this time, I had a child and was also pregnant with another. For a moment, I had a vision of this future. I could see myself and Ginny, both with our children, laughing over something together, in this house. Being a regular visitor here. The only odd thing out was Snape, hovering at the edge of this perfect picture. How did he come into play? _Why_ did he come into play? I looked away, down to the side.

"You promise to be good?" Ginny pressed her children, neither of whom had given a straight answer.

"Yes," James said, looking serious now at his mother's insistence.

"Albus?" Harry inquired.

The younger boy nodded, and Harry leaned back against the doorway, satisfied with his son. I pulled one the stools out from under the table and sat down, leaning my elbows on the chair, barely noticing as James dragged Albus out of the kitchen. I heard thumping through the house that sounded as if they'd run upstairs.

"So," Harry said, looking at me. I looked at the scar on his forehead. It was still as vivid as it had been the last time I'd seen it.

"Yeah," I said with a heavy sigh, "Your life seems really great here. I hope it doesn't change. I mean I suppose it won't, because time _doesn't_ change…"

With those words a sudden lump formed in my throat and I couldn't hold myself back anymore. Embarrassed, and angry at myself for being such a mess in front of my friends, I started sobbing, holding my head in my hands. Within moments I felt two bodies beside me, two hands on my shoulders, one Harry's, one Ginny's, and I cried even harder. When I managed to quiet myself, I looked at Ginny.

"How can this be the future?" I whispered, my throat sore, "How can this be what happens? What sort of nightmare is this?"

"It's not nightmare, Hermione," Ginny softly, and again her being older than me struck me. Here was a woman who had lived more years than me, more mature then me, more knowledgeable. She was not quite the same Ginny I knew. Over my shoulder I saw her meet eyes with Harry, and give him a questioning look.

"She's still in love with Ron," Harry said in explanation. At those words I almost started crying again, but managed to stop myself with just a large swallow.

"Can I have something to drink?" I asked, looking back and forth between Harry and Ginny.

Harry pulled out a wand and summoned a glass, then placed it in front of me and asked, "Water? Tea? Hot cocoa? Something else?"

"Water will be fine," I whispered and with another twitch of his wand the glass filled up. I took it gratefully and took several large gulps, feeling my face and body cool down with the intake of liquid.

"How did they fall in love?" Ginny asked quietly, to Harry as I stared into the glass.

"Apparently it happens now…" Harry said, "Or for us, happened while Hermione was gone. That makes sense, I guess…" Harry started talking to me as well, "I mean when you came from the future, you told us you were married to Snape in the future, and by the time you left, Snape knew that too and I think he'd started to fall in love with you, creepily enough. Then we you got back, it was a few months before you and Snape were actually together, but by then you seemed to be over Ron, like I said, relieved that you didn't have to tell him…"

Suddenly I realized I was having trouble breathing, so I took a long, careful breath, and then another sip of water, forcing myself to calm down. Unreasonably, I was starting to hate my future self. It all seemed to be her fault. She ruined my life… breaking me up with Ron, getting Snape to… fall in love with me… Though apparently in five months I'd be perfectly okay with that.

"FUCK!" I suddenly yelled, standing up abruptly and slamming my fists onto the table, "I don't fucking WANT this to happen! I want to be in control of my future! I want some CHOICES !"

I glared fiercely at Harry and Ginny, angrily, feeling the blood pound through my veins and feeling a horrible mixture of anger and frustration and helplessness wash through my body. Never before had I been presented with such an ultimatum. I was so used to being able to do things myself, the way I wanted, if I only tried hard enough. Things would work out. But not this time. This time, it appeared, _fate_ was pushing me down a path where I could see the future clearly… and it would happen as I saw it would. No matter what I wanted.

Neither Harry or Ginny knew what to say, and finally I sunk back onto my stool in depression, leaning on my elbows. I hoped neither Albus or James had heard me, or if they did, recognized it or paid attention. I felt bad then, about cursing in front of Harry's kids. They probably hadn't noticed, anyway. I sighed.

"Can we go sit in the living room?" I asked, looking up at Ginny, "We need to talk."

"Yeah," Ginny stood up, resting one hand on the growing curve of her belly. She didn't look near the end of her pregnancy, but she was definitely showing. I suddenly felt jealous… she had lived these last ten years _not knowing_ what was going to happen. For me, the next ten years of my life were completely out of my control. Then again… maybe she HAD known this would happen, because I could have told her. I frowned, and followed her into the living room, to then sink onto the soft red sofa under the Quidditch banner.

**A/N: Wee that was a fun chapter! :) ****Thank you all my wonderful reviewers! ****How's everyone doing? Still enjoying? What do you think with the way the story is heading? **


	8. Severus IV

**A/N: MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR APOLOGIES!! I got a summer job on a ranch in Colorado, and since I have a PC computer I was unable to bring it along and thus have not had access to a computer since May 30. I intended to upload all the rest of the chapters to this story I had right away, but suddenly I had to pack and then get up for a very early plane flight... so that didn't happen. If any of you are still interested in this story I will now resume updating regularly (I promise), and once more I apologize for the very sudden and very large gap in the updates of this story. If you're reading this, thanks for coming back or if you are new to it, thanks for checking it out and I hope you enjoy!**

The next several days Hermione did not appear to escort me to breakfast. For this, I believe, I was grateful. It gave me more time to think. I was glad she was still teaching her classes, apparently her students were adjusting fairly well. I wondered if I needed to make a public announcement of what had happened. The entire school seemed to know already. I wasn't teaching classes anymore, as Headmaster, so I didn't have to ward off multitudes of questions, but the others Professors were all discussing it among themselves— their thoughts, student thoughts… I suspected the older students would have broached me about it, but the older students were the ones that had me the longest as a Professor. The end of the war had changed the country's view of me, but not the individual's. I didn't really mind, seeing as I hardly encouraged students to like me. The younger students, even if they had felt experienced enough to talk to me, for the most part were afraid. The second years only knew me as the Headmaster I was last year, and the current first years simply had no idea what to make of me. I wondered what the students were like in Hermione's time.

I didn't approach her, either, giving her some time to settle in. We spoke a little at meals, as she continued to insist upon sitting next to me. For the most though, she actually talked to Minerva. I listened in; they were interesting conversations. They were mostly discussion of the school and current politics, Hermione seemed to have no compunctions about disclosing the future. To hear her tell it, the future was a wonderful place. I was still Headmaster, happily, as she noted. Minerva was still there as well. A few Professors had changed, but over all much was the same. There was a new Minster of Magic, a lot of changes had been made in the Wizarding world over the decade, a lot that I suspected Hermione, Potter, and Weasley played a large part in, though she never said so directly.

Finally I decided it was time to bring Hermione into the research. I had, in that time, read all my books and the school's books on time travel and had found, to my disgust, that none of it pertained to the sort of time travel Hermione had done. Most of them spoke about the use of a Time Turner, and events that had occurred with their use. A few older and more obscure ones spoke about people as time travelers and didn't explain the magic involved, but I suspected these were purely fiction, though they were written as narratives. Those were not books from my personal library, of course.

I sent Hermione an Owl with a note for her to meet me in my Office that evening, and received one back from her saying that she had already made plans for the evening, and inquiring if we could meet tomorrow, perhaps. Flustered at this, I agreed. It was a Friday, so tomorrow was a fine as well and indeed perhaps it was better to leave the entire day open to discussion and research. But I couldn't help but wonder what her plans were.

I spent that evening making potions to replenish the school's stores instead. We weren't particularly low, but I felt like the methodical creation that potions making was. Most were relatively simple, and it allowed me to fall into a meditative trance. My hands moved without conscious thought, and potions were created. Around eleven o'clock I left my private workroom, still in the dungeons despite my change in office, and began walking back to my rooms. I passed a few late night students, walking from prefect's bathrooms or House common rooms not their own. As it was a Friday I let them pass. It wasn't that late… yet.

I passed a window, and a figure outside caught my eye. Someone was walking rapidly across the lawn, towards the entrance. Concerned as to who it was, student or professor, I changed my route to take me to the entrance hall. As I stepped in, the doors bust open, and to my shock, Hermione stood there, a cloak wrapped around her. She looked at me with a tear streaked face, as surprised to see me as I was to see her. Where had she gone? I had expected to find an older student out late, or some other Professor, or even Hermione, but not one who had obviously been crying.

We stared at each other for what seemed like minutes, both froze in hesitation, and then a strange look came over Hermione's face, and she walked over to me, then sagged against the wall only a few feet from my side, and let out a long sigh that ended in a sort of final sniffle. I was torn between leaving her to be by herself and asking her what was wrong. If it was personal, she would probably want to be left alone, but if it was something else, the aid of another might be useful.

"I visited Ron," she whispered, looking at the ceiling of the entrance hall. I stiffened almost imperceptibly, not enough that she would notice. So it was personal. What in the world would cause her to cry from visiting Weasley? I was fairly positive I did not want to know, but if that idiot- well granted he had helped defeat Voldemort, but anyway, if there was some problem with him… I wondered if I should take her to Madame Pomfrey. It was too late to leave. I couldn't just say, "Good evening Hermione, I will see you tomorrow" _now_. Not after she… started explaining herself.

"Any particular reason why visiting Weasley has put you into tears?" I inquired, somewhat sharply. She cringed, and I immediately felt bad, or awkward. This was _not_ my strong suit. Why did I have to come down here? Why was she acting as if I was someone whom she could confide in? She certainly had other friends around… among the Professors and elsewhere. Or perhaps she had not intended to confide in anyone, and had been planning to go to her rooms when we ran into each other. I cursed myself inwardly, and cursed her as well. Why was she putting me into this situation?

"I…" she took a deep breath, then furrowed her eyebrows, and glanced over at me, then back to the ceiling, and said, "I told him that I don't marry him in the future."

She took a breath that sounded extremely shaky, and then fell silent. I frowned at her. That hardly seemed to merit tears. Why did she even bother to tell him that? Wouldn't it happen naturally on it's own? Telling him like that seemed more like to hurt him then letting things happen naturally would. Not that I was any expert on relationship advice; Hermione should know that too. Why was she explaining this to me? Did she think I would care? Or that I would be able to comfort her?

"I see little reason for tears," I finally said, and I'm afraid my voice was still rather cold.

She glanced up at me and to my surprise she looked almost angry at me.. or frustrated. Where was _that_ coming from? Did she expect me to say something nicer? On the lines of 'it will be all right?' How could she expect that from _me_? I felt something akin to disgust… and wanted nothing more than to just walk away.

"Well it _hurts_ is all," she growled at me, "But I supposed I shouldn't expect you to understand love." To my surprise her heart did not seem to be in that statement. She looked uneasy and frustrated after voicing it, and looked away from me. Then I remembered that Potter, that idiot, had in a vain moment, to anger Lord Voldemort at his defeat, explained my relative innocence to half the Wizarding world. In other words, my reason for becoming a spy. In one word: Lily. So in Hermione's mind, I _did_ understand love. I frowned at her.

"Miss Granger I would like to inform you that my understanding of _love_ does not make me wellspring of knowledge and comfort for your _use_," I said, just barely managing _not_ to spit it out. Damn Potter and his flapping mouth.

"Well then I'm sorry," she said, sounding almost on the verge of tears again, and then, her fingers twisting the wedding ring on her left hand, she swept past me. When she was gone I realized I was almost shaking, but with what, I wasn't sure. I was unsettled, that was for sure. I took a deep breath, hoped she would be more reasonable tomorrow, and went to my rooms.


	9. Hermione IV

"So this really isn't just a bad dream?" I whispered, as I stared at the ceiling, resting my head on the back of the sofa.

"No dream," Ginny said, "It all really happened. Or will happen, rather."

"I'm going to go check on James and Albus. Make sure they aren't going to blow up the house or something," Harry said, and stepped out of the living room, leaving me alone with Ginny. I wanted to talk to him too, but I supposed it was better to do so individually. I picked up my head and looked at Ginny. She looked slightly sad as she gazed at me. Missing the person I used to be? Missing the person I would be? Feeling sad for my predicament?

"How's Ron?" I asked, my voice hoarse. I pulled myself into a more comfortable position, sitting cross legged on the sofa facing Ginny.

"Now, or then?" she asked.

"Both," I answered, feeling a wave of depression wash over me. How could I marry Snape if I stilled loved Ron? How could I fall in love with him, knowing I had no choice?

"Well he took it pretty rough at first," she conceded, and I stared at my toes miserably, "You went to him before any of us. I found out you broke up with him before finding out you'd done some weird time traveling trick. He was really confused, too… You told him, or well, I suppose you_ tell_ him, that you were the future Hermione, and had switched places with the younger Hermione. While in the future, you fell in love with someone else, and that in your future you were married to him. Which you are."

"Did I say who it was?" I asked, feeling weird to be talking to Ginny about my own future self.

"Not at first, I don't think," Ginny shook her head, "Would have been too much of a shock. You came and visited Harry and I a few days later. That was a much more fun experience."

Ginny grinned at me, and then continued, "Apparated onto the doorstep. I was still living at home, at the Burrow. Took a while before everyone was calmed down enough to listen to you. Harry was there too, but you said you already knew he'd be there so it wasn't a coincidence. Or something. Explained that you were from the future, told us you were married and pregnant with your second child. Mum looked shocked- Ron wasn't there, he'd already moved out, but she was predisposed to treat you less than kindly… It was Harry who asked the big question. Who DID you get married to then? But you wouldn't tell us."

Ginny let out a little giggle then and added, "A good thing too. Once Ron found out… Let's just say he and Snape got into a little fight. But of course the Snape you were married to wasn't the one in our time…"

"I suppose you don't know what happens now, then," I said with a sigh, feeling slightly sick to my stomach from the stress and knowledge of the day.

"Not really," Ginny shook her head, "Only what you've told us. The basics is that you stay with Harry and I for a few weeks, then return to Hogwarts. You visit us a lot… and by the end of the five months, you're falling in love with Snape. And Adeline, of course."

"Hmm," I said, feeling frustrated again, but the weight of the future weighed on me such that I was starting to feel resigned to my fate. Pain still ran through my chest at the thought of Ron… and I expected I would never fully get over him, though that didn't really make sense if I married Snape… but as for Snape… I was starting to get curious.

"You have a pretty great relationship," Ginny said a few minutes later, "From what I can see… and that isn't actually a lot. You're both very respectful towards each other in public, and it is clear that you both care deeply for each other."

"And Snape…?" I asked, wondering how the cold, reserved, and sometimes mean person I knew fit into the picture, "What is he like?"

"A little different I suppose… though view points change as you age," Ginny said, "He's courteous to us, though I think he still has trouble getting along with Harry. You usually visit by yourself, he only comes along on holidays. From what I hear, Hogwarts is doing great with him as Headmaster… maybe he's a nicer Headmaster than teacher. I've seen him with Adeline though, and _there_ is a totally different person than the one we knew as kids."

I smiled- I already knew _that_. Then I realized I was smiling about Snape, and the momentary good feeling disappeared. There was a yell from upstairs and I looked up, startled.

"Help! I'm being attacked by hippogriffs!" Harry yelled and there was two peals of childish laughter.

I smiled then, amused, and it made me feel happy that Harry and Ginny had such a wonderful future together. I glanced at Ginny, she was grinning too, her eyes on the staircase leading to the upper levels of the home. Still… I did not belong in this time. My time was ten years ago, in my first year as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. My time was being with Ron…

"How the hell did I get here, anyway?" I asked softly, glancing at Ginny, feeling fairly sure she didn't know. Snape's words this morning… _"You'll be here for five months. We don't know why it happened." _ They didn't know why, and it had been ten years since it happened? That was scary, and disturbing.

"No one knows," Ginny said, as I expected her to, "It's not like any time travel ever recorded before. No time turners… travel to the future. You're not supposed to be able to travel to the future, because it hasn't happened yet."

"But my future is this Hermione's past," I said, "So does that make it normal time travel?"

"Maybe you have multiple futures," Ginny said, "And you've just been propelled into this one by your future self's going back."

"Do you think so?" I asked eagerly, my mind latching on the new idea. Was it possible?

"Maybe… I don't think about time travel very often," Ginny said with a shrug, and I suddenly realized she'd didn't really think so. I sighed.

"Why would her going backwards send me forwards, anyway?" I asked feeling my head start to hurt.

"Hmmm…" Ginny said, "Either way, how could you change this future? I mean it's already happened for me… since you've gone into this future, it seems like this is the timeline you're on- because the Hermione from this future is now in your present…"

"Oh," I said, feeling depression sink back onto me from my momentary excitement at the idea of multiple futures, "I suppose you're right…"

"Well, you've told me you're fairly sure it isn't outside magic causing it," Ginny said, moving onto a different area of time travel.

"Well _I_ didn't do it, so someone had to have done it!" I growled, then flopped back against the sofa, "When did I tell _you_ about Snape?"

"Before you told Ron," Ginny said with a smirk, "After we were starting to get used to the older, pregnant you. We were all very curious and kept pestering you, and finally you told us. I didn't believe you at first, I thought you were joking to try and get us to stop asking you about it. Then I realized you were dead serious. I spit pumpkin juice all over the table. Harry looked as if he thought you were insane. He also looked slightly green too. Mum was sure he'd done something bad to you."

"As was Ron, so I hear," I said bitterly, feeling glad that Ron hadn't let me go without a fight.

"Ah Hermione," Ginny said, and reached over to take my hand and give it a squeeze, "I know it's hard but really, you don't break up with him until _after_ you love Snape. Don't feel bad about it now because in YOUR timeline you are still going out with him. And really, it IS your timeline, and no one else's. It may seem like you're trapped in this time loop, but you're not. You can still make all the choices you want to. Besides, maybe you DO have multiple futures. In that case, you can choose not to leave Ron in this timeline… and therefore in this timeline Hermione back in time isn't breaking up with Ron, so everything will be fine when you get back."

"You think so?" I asked, not sure I entirely agreed with that logic. My third year escapades with a time turner made me fairly convinced there was only one timeline, and it was unchangeable.

"Does it matter?" Ginny asked, "Do what makes you happy."

"Can I see Ron?" I asked, wondering what he'd be like ten years later.

Ginny shook her head, "No… because well… in this timeline of mine you DID leave him ten years ago. How do you think he'd react you a young Hermione still in love with him? It would only bring back something he long got over."

"Is he married to someone else?" I asked, feeling unable to accept the fact that he might be. _Please no_, I thought.

Ginny shook her head again, "No, but he's seen a few other girls on and off. We all think he'll settle down eventually, but he took losing you pretty hard."

"Don't say that," I said fiercely, "Don't' tell me that. It only makes it worse. How would you feel if an older me came into this time and told you that you divorced Harry in the future, and he took it hard?"

Ginny stared at me, then looked down apologetically, "You're right. I'm sorry. Anything you need me to do, I'll do it. You'll make it through these five months."

"I suppose I'll have to," I whispered.

**A/N: Here's another chapter! Thanks to all those who reviewed, and to all those who didn't give up on me and came back to continue reading!! hugs!! Next chapter will be up soon. :)**


	10. Severus V

When I saw Hermione the next morning, at an early breakfast, she was composed, but there was a reservation to her that had not existed before. She had grown up into a beautiful woman, and somehow her expression of reserved emotion enhanced that. It was very strange to suddenly see her as an adult. I wondered if she had not back come from the future if I ever would have seen her as an adult, or if I would have always seen her as a child. Looking back on the person she was in this time, I realized she was grown up then too, even at the age of nineteen. I just hadn't been able to see it.

Anyway, I was, at the same time that morning, impressed with her emotional control. I still didn't know exactly what had gone on yesterday, but here she was, facing the world anyway. It pleased me that I could depend on her to meet with me today, regardless of what went on in her personal life. She did not sit next to me that morning, instead sitting neat the end of the table, and when I was done eating, I caught her eye and nodded to her. Upon standing, she copied me, and followed me out of the Great Hall.

"Good morning," I said to her curtly as we left.

She was silent for a moment, but then replied, "Yes. It is."

I wondered if she was angry with me for the way I had treated her the night before, but upon glancing back at her I determined she was not. Still upset perhaps, but not at me. I felt relief at that, and was glad she didn't expect the unreasonable from me. A good night's sleep had probably done her good.

I led her to my workroom, which adjoined my personal library, but not my rooms. Those were the Headmaster's rooms. There I pulled out a chair for her, then sat down myself. The room was slightly dark, as the only light came in from the high windows, but it was not dark enough that I felt the need to light any lamps. A long, dark work table ran the length of the room, and shelves lined the walls. A desk was off to the side, and it was in front of this desk that the two chairs were. She sat down, looking around, but not with the eyes of someone who had never seen it before. She looked with the air of someone double checking that everything is as she expects it to be. Did we do research here in the future as well? I frowned, but pushed that away and cleared my throat to catch Hermione's attention away from the room.

"So," I said, "Here is where we shall do the research you tell me we will do together during these five months."

"Yes," she said with a smile, one that seemed to herald a better mood, and she let out a relaxed sigh, settling into the chair.

Suddenly I realized I didn't really know where to start. I intended to question her further, but somehow it just didn't really seem appropriate. I sighed, then said, "Tell me what you know about time travel. What research have you been doing in the future?"

Hermione looked at the air above my head and said, "Where to begin? I've told you, the time traveling occurred in my sleep, so I have no conscious recollection of it…"

"No conscious?" I inquired. Her wording sparked a thought in me, "What about unconscious?"

"What do you mean?" she frowned at me.

"It is possible there is a part of your mind that _does_ know and remember what had happened, if we could tap into that," I explained.

"How do you tap into the unconscious mind?" Hermione inquired, looking slightly intrigued. I wondered how she could look intrigued when she knew nothing we thought of led to an explanation. Did that mean that we couldn't tap into her unconscious mind, that she didn't know of that idea already?

"I do not know," I replied, "But I am sure it can be done."

"Just so you know," Hermione put in, "You don't really tell me what kind of research we do now, just that we don't repeat it in the future. So I don't know what will and will not work. All the ideas you have now are perfectly worth consideration."

"We continue to do research for ten yeas?" I asked, feeling a little bit depressed at that idea… How could she even want to do research with the knowledge that nothing would be discovered for ten years? Then again, I supposed it wasn't ten years for _this _ Hermione. Those ten years had already happened for her.

"Yes," she said, "Not all the time, much less intense than what we do now… probably because once I'm gone it's ten years for both of us, not just you."

"What happens once you return?" I inquired, "Have you considered that if you and I have not found an answer after ten years, then there _is_ no answer?"

"We've considered it," Hermione nodded, "But we both believe that once we reach the point where the future is _unknown_, then we shall unlock the answer."

I fell silent to that, feeling uneasy again at her liberal use of the word 'we.' How close are 'we' in the future? My conviction that we must become friends became firmer. I wondered if it would be appropriate to ask, since she hadn't said anything, and if I wanted to know the answer. This young woman before me, and yes, she was still young in my eyes, I could imagine becoming friends with. But the nineteen year old version? Not so much. But apparently once nineteen year old Hermione comes back, we _would_ continue to do research together. Why? What was the point, if we both knew it'd be at least ten years before finding an answer? And why did I seem so thoroughly involved in the research? I hardly imagined it would interest me _that_ much. Unless there was danger involved- to Hogwarts, or the Wizarding World. But nothing she said implied any danger... not even to herself. I sighed.

"About last night…" Hermione started to say and my body stiffened up again. I glanced at her suspiciously. She appeared not to notice; she wasn't looking at me.

"I'm sorry about that," she continued, "It's just that the me in the future, the one you know, falls in love with someone there, and so it was just easier for me to tell Ron for her, for when she comes back. For when I came back. The problem was that the nineteen year old me is, right now, very much in love with Ron, and that's what makes it hard. I still feel like I was forced onto this path… I didn't have a choice once I knew my future. It isn't the future I would have picked for myself, then, not at all… But the reason I'm not too concerned about the why's or how's right now… is because what happens in these five months, and what happened, are very important to me. I am… I am glad that what happened, happened, and though I wish it hadn't happened quite like it did, leaving me to feel so helpless in the face of fate… I don't think it could have happened otherwise."

I stared at her, not sure I really followed. She was being unusually vague. I also wasn't sure why she was telling me this. I wasn't really curious about last night, her personal life was _her_ personal life. How she felt about Ron, or whoever she was actually married to now, wasn't really my business, nor was I particularly interested. Maybe she just needed to vent, or needed me to understand in order to work with me.

"Is your husband here, in this time?" I inquired. If he wasn't, which it appeared he wasn't because she didn't seem to be actively seeking out anyone other than Weasley so far, it would explain some of her stress about being here. Five months away from a husband to be father would stress anyone out. Maybe that was why she needed to talk. I wondered why she didn't do it to Minerva— the woman would be much more sympathetic than I. I brushed the thought off, whatever Hermione wanted to say, she was free to say it. She didn't seem to expect anything from me this time, anyway.

But at my words, Hermione seemed to tense up, and her eyes went onto mine. Her expression was oddly intense, and I felt my previous unease return full force. I wanted to say 'what?' but the words wouldn't leave my mouth. Finally she spoke, breaking the tension that had sprung up between us.

"Yes," she said, then leaned back with a slight smile, her eyes still on me, "Yes he is here. But he doesn't know I'm his future wife. In fact, I don't think he even knows he could love me."

I stared at her, feeling the hairs on the back of my neck raising up. Her words… the tone of her voice was so soft and… something, and her gaze seemed to stare right through me. I coughed, to cover my unease, then shifted slightly in my chair and answered her, in a voice that I managed to keep straight, "Ah. And are you going to tell him his future too, or is this a relationship that springs up between your present self and him after she returns?"

"He'll find out soon enough," she said, biting her lip as she smiled at me, "Not entirely sure on the exact date. They wouldn't give me one."

"Have a name, does he?" I asked, to continue the conversation- to fill the silence I felt would extend if I said nothing, or maybe to cover up my extreme uncomfortableness. I cast my mind around on Hermione's possible suitors, not even realizing the ludicrousness of the thoughts I was having. Who cared?

"Potter?" I suggested, knowing instinctively it wasn't him, not from the way Hermione spoke of her future husband, "Longbottom?" He _did_ work here as well, had applied for the Herbology position, so they'd have ample opportunity to interact with each other. I thought of past Potions classes, and thought that somewhat unlikely, though the boy had considerably matured.

"No," Hermione shook her head, "He's someone that I don't think I'd have ended up with if it weren't for this bit of time traveling… Someone quite unexpected…."

I stared at her, sure she was about to spit out some other bit of her soul, when she suddenly stood up, quite abruptly, and said, "Well, we should get researching, shouldn't we? Enough reminiscing on the future."

Then she smiled at her own wit, and before I could quite begin to understand what had happened, we were digging through books, making notes, discussing Hermione's time traveling experience, and how to tap into the unconscious mind. It wasn't until later that day, when we had gone our separate ways, that I found myself dwelling on her words, unable to get my mind to leave them alone. I felt there was something vitally important that I had missed, though the conversation seemed innocent enough. I also found myself somewhat embarrassed to be discussing Hermione's romantic life with her. It seemed unprofessional. I decided not to let her bring up _that_ topic again.

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed that chapter! Thanks, as usual, to my wonderful reviewers! Specifically...  
debjunk- glad you are still enjoying!  
sorrowsown- time travel is fun. that's all I'll say. it made my brain hurt to write this story though. ;)  
notwritten- :)  
sylphides- Well, recalling the books, especially the first, Hermione never was the... hmm... strongest character? She IS supposed to be a little annoying and silly sometimes. But don't worry, she gets better. Just as there is only so much mopiness you can read, there's only so much mopiness I can write!  
Maru- Yes, time travel can be like that. Hee hee. ;)  
ROTCGirl- Nah, no RW/HG, though that's canon. I made a brief sojourn to Miami, which is why this one took a little longer to get up. I shall continue to post often! Thanks for reading!**


	11. Hermione V

"So you're Head of the Aurors now?" I asked, still in my pajamas as I made myself a cup of tea. Harry was, amazingly, cooking breakfast for the entire household. I wondered if Ginny taught him, or if he learned himself. Or maybe it was Kreacher. The House Elf had passed away a year ago, after serving Harry for the last nine years. I was somewhat amazed at that too, and pleased. Sometimes things turn out better than you expect. Harry had, of course, made sure to offer Kreacher wages and holidays (I asked him), but Kreacher had refused, like most House Elves…

Apparently over summers I worked with the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, and some changes had been wrought. It was now a law that House Elves be offered reasonable wages and holidays like any other servant, though not a law for that to be forced upon them. When I first formed S.P.E.W. I suppose that would have upset me, but one learns to face reality as one gets older… and the reality is that not all House Elves want to be free.

"It's a good job, being Head of Aurors," Harry mused out loud as he cooked, "And I enjoy it. Like I said before though, there aren't too many Dark Wizards after Voldemort. There are minor infractions of the law, but Aurors don't really handle that. A lot of our work now is done abroad, in places less affected by Voldemort, places that are havens for Dark Wizards… With the cooperation of the magical authorities there of course. Lots of fun stories to tell anyway. James is convinced he wants to be an Auror as well, but Albus is too young to really get it."

Albus chose that moment to hightail it into the kitchen. His bare feet pounded against the wood floors as he ran around the table and grabbed Harry by the legs, looking up at him with bright green eyes and a pleading expression. James appeared in the kitchen doorway then, his red hair messy. His eyes immediately went to James, then to Harry.

"Daddy Albus took Bear," James whined, his lower lip starting to stick out, "And he wouldn't give him back."

"And…?" Harry prompted his son to continue.

James stared at Harry. Harry sighed, then continued to stare down his son. The pout in James's lip became more pronounced. I smothered a smile by taking a large sip of tea that was just a little too hot for sipping. Burned tongue for me.

James spoke so softly I almost didn't hear, "I took Bear back."

"Ah," Harry said, "Well now that you have Bear back, why don't you go on back upstairs? And leave Albus alone?"

James disappeared and Albus left Harry's leg to climb up onto a chair beside me. Then he watched me intently, looking at my tea, and then my face. I smiled at him and asked, "Want some tea?"

He shook his head, then after a moment of contemplation said, "Milk."

Harry took a glass out of the cupboard, then conjured milk into it, from where, I hadn't figured out yet. Then he leaned over and deposited the glass in front of Albus, who reached out to grasp it quickly. After he drank some, he looked back over at me, still a little shyly, which confirmed my guess that they recognized me as changed.

But then his next words made me rethink that, as he inquired, "Adeline?"

I shook my head, "Not today, Albus. She's staying home with… Severus."

I felt Harry's gaze upon me and looked up at him. It felt so strange to call him by his first name, but it would have been stranger to call him Snape to Albus. I wondered how he was doing, taking care of the two year old all by himself, on top of Headmaster duties. Did he have someone covering my classes? Would Adeline miss me? I sighed, and stared into my tea.

OOO

"Snape's library!" I called out, tossing the Floo powder into the fireplace, and then thrusting my head in. There was the odd sensation of my head flying through space, and then I was there. Or rather, my head was. It was two weeks after I had come to the future, two weeks I had spent with Harry and Ginny, and James and Albus. Two weeks in which I did a _lot_ of thinking. Thinking and talking. And confusion. But I had finally realized that it was time to return to Hogwarts. Harry and Ginny had their own lives to lead, and hiding from the future wouldn't make it go away.

To my luck, and intuition, Snape was where I had guessed he would be in the evenings. His personal library, and one of the few places that had a fireplace connected to the Floo network. He was sitting in an armchair, reading, as I pictured… but also as I had not pictured, because Adeline was on his lap, and he was reading a children's book to her. Not a two year old's book, rather something I'd expect a nine year old to be reading, but I supposed that was Snape. And it was also me. I could imagine I'd be the sort of parent that would read kids books way above their standard 'level'. Either way, Adeline seemed to be enjoying it.

They both looked up as my head appeared. Adeline, wearing a yellow one piece pajama suit, slid off Snape's lap with a smile and ran over to the fire. Snape was right behind her, grabbed her under the arms and pulling her up before she could touch the flames. Then he kneeled down, holding Adeline still, and faced me, a smile on his face. I was reminded once more of the difference in this Snape. The Snape I knew, the one from the past, had never smiled quite like that. Suddenly I wanted to stay with Harry and Ginny a little longer… and not face this strange Snape that I was supposed to fall in love with.

"Hi," I said uneasily, then smiled at Adeline. She grinned back at me, then glanced up at her father, then back to me.

"Mama?" she inquired to Snape, then reached a hand towards me.

"Yes, but it's fire," Snape explained, pulling her back, "You can't touch her."

"I'm ready to come back," I said, blurting it out, and also unable to quite look Snape in the eye longer than a few seconds. My eyes flitted from Adeline to him, to the room…

"Now? Or soon?" he asked.

"Now I suppose," I answered, "I didn't really bring much, it won't make a difference if I come back now or if I wait until tomorrow morning."

"All right," he nodded, "I'll arrange a place for you to sleep. Feel free to come through this fireplace, it is the closest one to our rooms."

"Okay," I answered, swallowing back my nervousness, and then I pulled my head from the fire place. Back in Harry's living room I stood up, turning to the Potters with a nod.

"I'm going," I said, taking a deep breath, and then taking the few things I'd brought along into my arms. James and Albus watched me mournfully from their positions in their parent's arms.

"Feel free to come back whenever you need to," Ginny said with a warm smile.

"I will," I promised, "And I probably _will_ come back… I'm not sure I can really take not being around you guys… I think I'd start to go crazy in deciding that all of this is really in my head because it's just too ludicrous."

Ginny laughed, and Harry smiled, then said, "Good luck."

"Thanks," I said, then turned back to the fireplace and stepped into the still green flames. In a whoosh of fire, I was gone. When I stepped out into Snape's library, he was standing there, waiting, Adeline still in his arms. She was leaning up against him, and looked almost asleep. It was seven thirty, so I supposed it was probably around her usual bed time. I looked at Snape, wondering what happened now.

"Come," he said, and turned, leaving the library. I followed silently, moving through empty Hogwarts halls until we reached his— our… rooms. Snape whispered something and the door swung open. He stepped in, and once more I followed. The door shut on its own. The place was as it was when I first saw it, two weeks ago. Before doing anything else, Snape brought Adeline to her room and lay her down in her crib, then clicked off the lights.

I stood waiting outside in the hallway as he came back out. He paused to look at me for a moment, then motioned me once more to follow him. We emerged into the living room, the place where I had dined that first morning, and held Adeline in my arms. Doors that I did not know what lay behind were open. One, as I could see in, was a bathroom, and it appeared much less used. There was no shower, only toilet and sink. The other was what I presumed had been an extra study room, or something… I knew Snape had his offices elsewhere, and I assumed mine were in the same place they were ten years ago. But now this room had been made into a guest room. There was a bed and dresser, and I saw that a few of my things had already been moved over to it.

For some reason I was surprised, I mean I hadn't expected him to expect me to sleep in the same bed with him, but the care and thought that had gone into this arrangement… It made me feel bad, because the Hermione he knew and loved was gone, gone for five months, and I was almost a stranger… To distract myself I set my things down on the floor near the foot of the bed, and then turned to Snape.

"Thank you," I said, then fell silent, having no idea what to say, or what to do.

"Are you prepared to continue teaching, or do you need time to adjust to that as well?" he asked softly, and he was once more the Snape I knew from what was now the past.

"I can start teaching," I said, not really sure if I was prepared because I was still very new at teaching but I needed to do _something_, have something occupy my time. I wasn't going to sit around these rooms all day having nothing to do but think about what had happened to me.

"Excellent," Snape said, "Would you like anything to drink? To eat?"

I shook my head and stepped outside of the bedroom, back into the living room where he stood calmly. I felt so awkward… there was still hours before it would be time to sleep, hours to spend with Snape. What could we possibly talk about? There were things I wanted to know from him, but I did not feel comfortable just asking him.

"Sit," he suggested after a moment, motioning a hand at the sofa. I sat down carefully, trying to relax but completely unable to. Snape sat down at the other end of the sofa, watching me. I half wished he'd just go away, to do work or something… The tension in the room was extremely high…at least from my perspective.

"How are you?" he asked, and the words coming from Snape's mouth seemed strange. Snape didn't ask things like that.

I made a face and then frowned at him, then realized I should say _something_, and said, "As well as I can be I suppose. My life's only just been turned upside down."

"Is it really that bad?" he asked, and I stared at him, wanting to glare but still half afraid of this man who had been my Professor for seven years, and one of the great heroes of the war.

"Yes," I said, "It is that bad. Have you ever had someone you love torn away from you by force? Against your will?"

"Weasley was not torn away from you against your will," Snape pointed out dryly, "_You_ did it. Everything you do now and here, is your choice. Everything you do in the future, is your choice. It is as useless to dwell on the apparent idiocy of the past as it is to dwell on the apparent idiocy of the future. Just as the stupid things you did before seemed reasonable at the time, so will the things that seem stupid now become reasonable when you reach that point. There is no point in dwelling on it."

Well when he put it that way it almost did seem reasonable. But the sheer, plain fact was that I had essentially just broken up with Ron, while still in love with him. Why couldn't have my future self waited until _I_ was back, so I could do it, if that's what I wanted? Then again… maybe a clean cut was better, instead of spending five months in limbo between two men. Maybe that would make it easier for me… I sighed, feeling guilty about already disassociating myself with Ron. I loved him, I really did, but knowing the future like this, having a husband of the future sitting beside me and knowing there was nothing I could do to change this future, that indeed, there would come to be a point when I would not _want_ to change it…

I looked at Snape curiously. Would I really want to love him? Certainly he wasn't really attractive at first look, but the more you like, then love someone, the more attractive they get. Already he didn't strike me as particularly _unattractive _as he most assuredly had been in my mind most of my childhood. Feeling embarrassed about looking at him like that, I blushed, then looked away, across the room.

"The future isn't the past though," I finally said, in response to his words, "The future is supposed to be something you _can_ control, you_ can_ change. It isn't supposed to be set in stone like the past."

"A misconception based on the nature of our movement through time," Snape commented lightly, "Ten years of dealing with it has rather changed my perception, yours as well, in time."

"Hmmm," I answered, and leaned back against the sofa, then asked, "So… does the younger you, back in my time, take the knowledge of our marriage as hard as I do?"

"No," Snape said straight out, "Because the me of the past was not involved in a relationship. Needless to say I was rather surprised when I found out, but not entirely adverse to it."

I quickly looked away, wishing I hadn't said anything. My stomach turned and I bit my lip awkwardly. Had Snape liked me before now? Did the Snape of my time find this me attractive? If so, that would be _really_ awkward… Was he some sort of pedophile or something? He'd known me since I was eleven! Some of what I was thinking must have shown on my face, for Snape spoke up again.

"Hermione," he said, and I looked over at him carefully, "What I meant was that by the time I found out… I fell in love with you because I saw, when you came back in time, that you had grown up. You were an adult woman, not a child, and it was only then that I saw that. You were also closer to my own age, and I found I could relate to you a little better. And when the beautiful woman, that you will become, started flirting with me, I suddenly found it harder to think that our age difference _meant_ anything, especially what with it shrunken by your time traveling."

So it wasn't me. It was _her_. My future self. I frowned, then asked, "What happens when I go back to my own time?"

"You mean between us?" he asked, but didn't wait for an answer, only said, "Well… you are shy, and it takes me a little bit of time to realize that you already are the person I saw you would become… But once you realized that I too, was the same person I am now, relatively…"

"Ah," I said, wondering what it was like to kiss Snape. I was half repulsed and half intrigued by the idea, and the part of me that was repulsed was repulsed even more by the fact that part of me was intrigued. _It's SNAPE!_ I kept thinking, _You can't think about SNAPE like that!_ But apparently I did. In this time, I'd gone so far as to marry him, along with all the other… things… that go along with marriage.

Suddenly it all struck me as incredibly funny, and a laugh escaped from my lips. The moment the sound reached the empty room, I stopped, and looked at Snape, embarrassed. But a smile twitched at his lips.

"What, exactly, do you find funny, Hermione?" he asked, and for a moment I was confused, expecting a 'Miss Granger' at the end of the sentence, but it was hardly likely that Snape would continue to call me Miss Granger throughout our lives. Which led me to wonder what _I_ should address him as. In my time he was still Snape, and Professor Snape or Headmaster in person… But I couldn't really address him so formally here, especially not after he was undoubtedly used to me calling him Severus. Or Sev. I grimaced.

"Oh… just everything," I said with a sigh, "You mostly I suppose." Then with boldness coming from the fact that I knew this Snape was married to a future me, and therefore probably trustworthy enough for me to be able to speak freely, I said, "I never really thought of you that way until now. Respect, yes… But now here I am, faced with the fact that I am supposed to _marry_ you… It amuses me at the thoughts that it puts in my head."

Snape looked momentarily impressed at my boldness as well, and this time he really did smile, and he asked, quite cruelly in my opinion, "And what exactly would those thoughts consist of?"

My stomach clenched, and I felt myself starting to blush- he wasn't supposed to ask for more details! Then, before I could get angry, I suddenly realized he was teasing me. The shock of it pushed away my embarrassment. I stared at him. Snape teasing? Was it possible? Did he really think I was ready for being teased? He knew very well what I meant. Then I wondered, with growing mortification, if those sorts of thoughts were in _his_ head… possibly right now, though more probably about my future self. A thirty year age difference is a little harder to get past than a twenty year one. Or a ten year. I shivered… this man sitting before me, this _Snape_, had seen me naked. I blushed again, then decided I was not going to blush my way through these five months, but take it in hand that this Snape probably knew me better than Ron, or Harry, or even my parents, and I would use that to _my_ advantage, not his.

So I looked up, met his gaze, and answered, with a smile, "I think you know very well what sort of thoughts those are, _Severus_."

**A/N: This was originally two chapters, eleven AND thirteen, but eleven was so short I realized I couldn't possibly put it up all by itself. I think it works much better like this. I hope you enjoyed!  
Thanks to...  
debjunk- I know, it was hard for ME to not have Hermione just blurt it out. :) I'm a Bio/Psych/Neuroscience or something major, thus the musings on the unconscious mind.  
wywrite- There's only so many times she can make subtle hints at him before he catches on though. He just has a mental block in his head when it comes to thinking of Hermione and Woman as a single thing.  
Mennie- You may have to wait a little longer for them to figure it out... but not saying more than that.  
Etli- How did you like the young non-Snapish Hermione in this chapter? I'd say she holds her own.. :)  
sylphides- I know! My own fanfic Hermione started to deviate so wildly in my writings (not this story) and in the stories I chose to read about her at one point, then I went back and reread the first book and was like "oooh..." She very much gets her negative traits almost completely obliterated in a lot of fanfiction. I hope I succeed in keeping at least SOME of that silly eleven year old in my writing.  
sorrowsown- This (hopefully) will continue to be regularly updated until finish. Unless all the computers at Bard randomly detonate or something...  
MissPrincess1989- And that's what Hermione wants to know as well!  
Phytonesse- That sounds like a good fic. Time travel is always fun. :)**


	12. Severus VI

Hermione and I continued researching over the next few weeks, broaching on months. Christmas was approaching, and I was making preparations for the feast, arranging decorations with Hagrid (who still had trouble accepting me as Headmaster). I was starting to look into the subconscious idea, as well as guiding Hermione along the steps of research. She didn't need much help, and seemed to have a lot of good ideas of her own. It made me wonder, every once and a while, what my stake in this was, besides curiosity. It seemed fairly clear to me, after only a few research days (we met every Saturday) that Hermione did not particularly need help. What she needed was a research partner, someone to bounce ideas off of. I wondered why that person was me… _Now_ I knew, because I was Headmaster and curious… but in the future, why me?

"Did you ever think we might look into some Muggle psychology textbooks?" Hermione wondered one afternoon, in the second week of December.

"Muggle what?" I echoed her, only half listening. Nothing in the Muggle world was particularly worth noting, in my experience.

"Psychology," she repeated, "Its their form of mental interpretation."

"What, like Legilimency?" I asked, looking up from a book I was taking notes from.

"Except without magic," she said, looking slightly exasperated at my lack of interest, "They use it to address mental disorders, and to just understand each other more."

"Sounds entirely useless," I said dryly. I wasn't interested, and I doubted whatever it was would be of any use.

"It might not be," Hermione said, and I looked up to catch her smiling at me mischievously. I frowned at her.

"There are Muggle techniques for tapping into the subconscious… though modern Muggle literature discounts most of these. Hypnosis seems plausible though, or certain states of meditation…" she mused, flipping through a book that had nothing to do with muggle psychology.

"And where would the advantages of that be? It would, indeed, be simpler to use Legilimency, if mind reading is what you are considering," I drawled, though of course I did not seriously consider it, nor did I think Hermione would let me read her mind.

Hermione made a noise that seemed like a growl, and stalked over to stand in front of me, looking down at me imperiously, and she said, "For your information _both _of us know we aren't going to use Legilimency."

Then she smirked and said, "Besides, we couldn't have you learning _all_ my deep, dark secrets."

"You wouldn't mind losing a few of them, though?" I asked, still only half paying attention, continuing to read my own book.

There was a chuckle from above me. I looked up, perplexed at her playful attitude, and not really in the mood for joking around. She was smirking at me with a superior expression on her face. I frowned at her. She had become more and more cheerful over the last few weeks, and I wondered if it was some sort of pregnancy hormone thing. I _hoped_ it was some sort of pregnancy hormone thing, because if it wasn't I'd almost think she was flirting with me. Which was most highly unlikely. Even if we were friends in her future. Who was she married to, anyway?

"Anything you want to know?" Hermione inquired of me with a raised eyebrow, leaning against the table. My thoughts had all happened quick enough that there wasn't a noticeable pause in our conversation. I felt it was a good thing, at that moment, that _she_ was not a Legilimens.

"Not particularly," I lied, looking back down at my book. I _was_ actually curious about the 'we' she kept referring to the future. But I was content to wait until then to find out. I also wanted to know if she realized she was flirting… Because if she did I had some even more serious questions for her. Like who her husband was and if he was aware of the fact that his pregnant wife was hitting on her old Potions professor who was notoriously unpleasant and oft had the adjectives 'greasy' and 'slimy' applied to him.

After a moment of silence I glanced back up at her. To her credit, she didn't look pouty at her fun attitude not being returned. Instead, she only looked thoughtful. With a thoughtful sigh of my own, I wondered what she would do if I started returning the banter she'd been throwing at me the last few Saturday's. Would she stop doing it? Realize what she was doing? Continue doing it? I smiled inwardly at myself… it might even be amusing. She was certainly pretty enough… and married… And my old student… but somehow I couldn't quite think of her that way anymore, not when she had aged ten years without me aging any. As an adult she was much more entertaining. And attractive.

"Well there is this one," I said, standing up and closing my book, letting the ghost of smile skirt about my lips.

Hermione looked over at me, now appearing intrigued. Her arms were resting on her belly— now quite noticeably larger. It didn't detract from her looks, but only added maturity to her over impression. She told me a few weeks earlier that it was her second child. She already had one, a two year old girl named Adeline. It was strange to think of her with children, and yet at the same time not strange at all, for this Hermione. It fitted her. There was a very wistful, loving expression on her face when she spoke of Adeline, and I knew she must miss the little girl. It made me feel sorry for her, torn away from a family and loving husband for five months… I only hoped that this flirting of hers wasn't a result of her loneliness. Hitting on me wouldn't make things better for her.

"Yes?" she inquired of me, her voice soft, and sounding slightly pleased as well as amused.

"I was wondering," I said, staring straight into her eyes, "When you started calling me Severus."

"Oh," she said quietly, looking a bit lost. I smirked. She hadn't been expecting that one.

To her credit, she quickly recovered herself and answered nonchalantly, "Around the same time you start calling me Hermione. This you, and to present me, that is. After I leave, and she comes back. The first time I call you Severus in my own personal timeline is now, when I go to the future."

And then she smirked at me. I smirked back. She'd given me any easy opening.

"And why exactly is that? I can hardly imagine giving you express permission to use my given name," I said to her, making myself sound serious.

"Oh you do," she answered, meeting my gaze squarely.

I wondered if she realized how close we were standing. I could practically kiss her, if I wanted to… Though that probably wouldn't be a good idea. It'd probably end with some sort of pain on my side, though I wondered… I also wondered why she was taking out her pent up frustration about time travel on me, of all people. There were certainly other male professors at Hogwarts, younger and more attractive than myself. Not that I was adverse to it but it was… unexpected. And she was most definitely flirting with me. No doubt now. I ignored the part of my brain that protested I shouldn't be taking advantage of her. It was _Hermione Granger_, for heaven's sake! Somehow that didn't seem to matter. This was not nineteen year old Hermione throwing herself at me, it was a twenty-nine year old version, and I trusted _her_ to know what she was doing. The back of my mind was laughing at me. _Hermione_ throwing herself at me. I thought back to the years teaching her, of the know-it-all bushy haired buck toothed young girl. She was still a know-it-all. And she was still bushy haired. When had the buck teeth disappeared?

"Do you realize what you're doing, Miss Granger?" I asked her piercingly, leaning back to cross my arms across my chest. Instead of leaning forward…

"Except it's Missus now, right?" I added on before she could answer, "Missus _what_ I wonder."

"I kept my maiden name," she retorted, "Though our children take his. My choice."

"All right then, Professor Granger," I said, "Tell me… _do_ you want me to read your mind? I can't imagine any Muggle method would reveal something in your unconscious mind that _I_ couldn't."

Hermione smiled, and answered, "Except that Legilimency only works through the conscious mind. It follows thoughts, memories, connections, what I'm thinking of right now…"

"What _are_ you thinking of, right now?" I inquired, my voice cool. I waited for her answer.

"I'm wondering what the best time is to tell my future husband I'm marrying him," she answered lightly.

"Won't that be a delightful shock?" I mused back at her, "Doesn't even know he will love you, and you're not even going to propose, just pop it out at him?"

But inside my heart was pounding. What was she saying? Why was she saying that? Bringing the conversation away from us? Or was she? Flirting is usually self oriented, between the two parties involved, no matter what the cover conversation is. For the first time in a long time, I felt well and truly unsettled.

"Oh I think he'll figure it out soon," Hermione answered, just as lightly as the previous comment. If it wasn't Hermione, I'd be almost positive she was talking about me. As it was… she wasn't. But then what was she doing? Flaunting her love life in front of me, knowing that the one person I loved never returned those feelings, and that I had been instrumental in her death? I frowned, and turned away from her, suddenly unsure if she had been flirting with me, or just teasing me in a backhanded sort of way. Neither seemed quite like her.

"Well," I said softly, "Your future husband probably has little to do with your curious incident of time traveling. Unless he was the one who did it. But assuming he was not, let us turn to more relevant topics."

OOO

By now I was getting regular updates on Hermione's pregnancy via the morning breakfast discussions at the high table. Longbottom in particular seemed to have taken it upon himself to act as her advice giver and protector. For some reason, that pissed me off. He would rattle off things about pregnancy that I knew he must have just looked up the day before or something… Not that I knew anything about pregnancy, but Hermione seemed well knowledgeable in the subject. It _was_ her second child, after all. She'd already gone through it once before.

She had started feeling the baby move about a month after arriving, and nearly everyone had been getting in line to try and feel it kick once she mentioned that off-handedly at a breakfast. I wondered how her students were reacting to it. I imagined the girls were probably preparing to throw her a baby shower, maybe some of the boys as well, who knew?

So one evening while we were making up theories of time travel in my workroom, I asked her a question I'd been wondering about for a while.

"Hermione, is your child going to be born in this time? Before you return?" I asked as we settled down into chairs, her more carefully than me.

She frowned at me, looking slightly uneasy as she answered, "I don't think so. Not from what— from what I've been told."

"Are you sure?" I pressed her, because she didn't seem sure, "Because if not, you might want to prepare arrangements for the baby to be born here."

"No, I suppose I'm not sure, Severus," she said with a sigh, "It worries me, to tell you the truth. You know, after these five months are over, I won't know the future anymore. I've know for ten years now that for ten years, my life is good. My life is happy. No one dies… Nothing bad happens. I met Adeline for the first time ten years ago. Long before she was even born I heard her say 'Mama' to me… Do you have any idea what that is like?"

"None whatsoever," I answered calmly, ignoring the part of me that continued to wonder why her future husband remained nameless to me. I didn't feel like trying to interpret her little hints and subtle remarks anymore.

"But I can sympathize," I added on a moment later, "And my only words are this: You'll just be returning to the natural state of things. I doubt you need worry. Time will continue on as it has, whether or not you know it what will happen."

"Oh!" Hermione said suddenly, straightening up, putting a hand on her stomach, "The baby kicked again!"

I wasn't sure what to say to that… Congratulations? So I didn't say anything, just looked at her calmly, waiting for her to continue if she wished. Or say something else. She looked up at me after a moment, looking happy, distracted now from the unease that plagued her about the ending of these five months.

"Want to feel it?" she asked, and she meant it, there were no subtle or not so subtle hints going along with the words. No flirting.

I shrugged, then said, "Yes." And why not? It wasn't like I'd get any other chance to touch her.. Not that I was entirely sure I _did_ want to touch her but… anyway it was harmless. And I wouldn't use it as an excuse to do something else. Flirting with me or not, this Hermione was a married woman. I didn't want to get involved with that.

She stood up, and I stood as well, covering the distance between us so we stood before each other. She smiled at me, and I reached out my hand to rest it on her protruding stomach. She took my hand and moved it slightly, her fingers warm against mine, and said, "Here's where he just kicked. Or she."

I looked over at her, and a small laugh escaped her lips. She smiled, then sighed, and looked back at our hands, resting on her stomach, and said, "I don't know which. I knew with Adeline. But I won't know with this one."

"Sometimes surprises are a gift, not a burden," I told her softly, "Like this one. This is what your future holds. No worries."

"You know…." she started to say, then sighed and looked away.

Before I could ask her what she was going to say, there was a shout, and I heard, "Get your dirty hands off her!"

For a moment I thought it was her soon to be husband, and I felt a sudden fear… Not that Hermione and I were involved with each other, but that the thought had been going through my mind... But that was only a momentary thought, because right after I recognized the voice as belonging to the youngest of the Weasley boys.

"I fail to see where it is your business _where_ my hands lie, Weasley," I spat, but stepped back from Hermione anyway.

"Ron!" Hermione said loudly, sounding annoyed, "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you," he said, as if it were obvious, then shot a dark look at me, and added, "Harry said that"-

"What?" Hermione said loudly, and edge of anger in her voice, looking livid and not letting him finish, "He wasn't supposed to"-

"Well he did," Weasley replied nastily, then glared at me again, "And I've come to tell you I don't believe it."

"Excuse me, but I'll be going," I said, having no wish to come between a Weasley-Granger spat again. Enough of those in their sixth year.

"No," Weasley said, his voice almost a hiss as he addressed it to me. A nasty expression was on his face, "_You_ stay."

"Ron…" Hermione started, "He doesn't know yet…"

"Well he will, won't he?" Weasley answered, "Does it really matter when? Why do you do it, Hermione? Does he force you?"

With his last words he glared at me again. I did not deign to glare back, only shot a cool, aloof look and asked Hermione, while still looking at Weasley, "What exactly is going on? Is there something I should know?"

Ron laughed harshly, "Yeah. There is. While you're here dallying around with this Hermione, her present self is in the future getting seduced by _you_."

Before I could answer, Hermione did for me, and she said, "Oh come now Ron! You really think I'd be seduced by him if I didn't want to be?"

"Mr. Weasley," I said darkly, staring at Hermione before turning to Weasley, "Assuming you _are_ talking about me, I have certainly done no _seducing_ that involves _either _of you. Nor is it any of your business."

"It is my business when it's Hermione!" Weasley protested, growing red.

"Not anymore," Hermione interjected, "I thought I made that clear two months ago! I'm sorry to have hurt you, but it's a _fact_ Ron. I'm married. And yes, I'm married to Severus. Now _please_ go away until you can act more maturely about it!"

Weasley glared at the both of us, then stormed out. Had he Apparated at the school gate? I didn't care. I turned to Hermione, torn between smugness and shock. I decided not to let the latter show, and gave her a smirk.

"Married to Severus, are you?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at her, "And when were you going to tell _me_ this?"

"I knew you found out soon," she confessed, "But I thought I would be the one to tell you… you were vague on the details when I returned."

"Hmm," I said, staring at her. She blushed, and my smirk grew wider, because I knew where that blush came from. But it was unseemly to leer at one's future wife, so I stopped smirking and stepped over to her, taking her left hand in my own and looking at the wedding ring there.

"I had my suspicions," I informed her, "From the way you acted around me. Flirting? Dear Hermione? You don't seem like the type to have an affair. Not that I was entirely against it if you wanted to."

"You," she said softly, looking at me in wonder, "This makes me remember how I fell in love with you."

I took a slow breath, and dropped her hand, stepping back for a moment. Love. That was something entirely different from flirting. I looked at her seriously, then said, "And when do I fall in love with you?"

Hermione looked back at me for a long moment, then said quietly, "I think you'll know when you do."

"Are you so sure I _do_?" I inquired of her, clasping my hands in front of me. I kept looking at her, letting my eyes trail over her body with a freedom I hadn't before… And a few months ago didn't even want. She _was_ beautiful… maybe even more so than Lily. But more importantly, she was _here_, and she loved me… she wanted me. She was pregnant with my child. I wondered if maybe I didn't already love her back.

**A/N: More extra long chapters! Hope you enjoyed!  
Thanks to these users for reviewing the last chapter!  
notwritten- Thank you for reading!  
LionHeart of France- Thanks! I'm glad you're chuckling, because that's why I write. I like being able to reread what I've written and entertain myself. :)  
sorrowsown- Yup, its good to keep fresh on all the books when writing fanfics. :)  
debjunk- Time travel has its own special way of messing up people's lives. But- well I won't say anything about what happens. Hee hee.  
Etli- Thanks! Now that its here, what do you think of this chapter?**


	13. Hermione VI

"So," Snape- no, _Severus_ said the next morning, "You have a thing for older men?"

I choked on my cup of tea, burning my tongue again. The evening before the conversation had sort of dwindled back towards time travel and what Snape thought had happened, the sort of research we had done over the years, the things the future me came up with in my time… Nothing more about our personal relationship. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, and I actually found myself enjoying the conversation. It was extremely strange though, to suddenly have this other side of Severus presented to me. I knew about Lily, of course, but that had seemed to me like a once in a lifetime thing for him. The Snape that was my employer, in my time, was mostly removed. He no longer was rude to me; I suppose he saved that for his students. He talked with some of the Professors but didn't quite seem friends with any of them. But this Snape… this one… he made jokes. His own, sometimes sort of twisted jokes, and teased… But at the same as being strange, it was also natural. I wondered if he'd shown this same sense of humor all seven years of teaching us, and no one ever got it. Well except for the Slytherins. I sighed.

Adeline was eating a banana. Snape had peeled it and cut it up, then put it on a plate in front of her. She was sitting in a high chair, right up against the table, and was thoroughly engrossed in her banana. Every once and a while she'd looked up at either Severus or I and grin at us with a banana-y mouth. Very cute. She was still in her pajamas too- the same yellow one piece pajama suit. Her dark hair was messy, sticking straight up in a few places. I looked back at Snape.

"Do you _think_ I do?" I retorted, half annoyed. Why was he asking questions like that?

"Well you marry one twice your age, at the time," he pointed out. We were going to eat breakfast in the Great Hall, but we still had almost an hour before we'd be expected, or needed. Adeline was an early riser.

"Doesn't mean age has anything to do with it," I informed him, thinking of all the other perfectly reasonably aged people I had dated, then suddenly remembered Lockhart, and almost choked on my tea again. What was Snape trying to do by asking me a question like that? It was most extremely disconcerting to have someone I expected to be quizzing me on potion ingredients ask me something like that.

"Hmm," Snape replied, looking at Adeline.

"Well if you're going to ask that I suppose I might as well ask you if you have a thing for younger women," I said, feeling unsettled.

Snape glanced across the table at me, and said, "You were only ten years younger when I fell in love with you."

"What about when I return?" I pressed, wondering about it myself. What WOULD that be like?

"We both have our barriers to cross," he said vaguely, and turned back to Adeline, saying, "You don't want this last piece?"

Adeline picked it up and squished it between her fingers and giggled. I assumed that meant no. Then she grinned again and looked at me, holding up her hand to show me how it was covered in banana goo.

"Very impressive," I told her, nodding seriously.

"Well then," Snape said, standing up and addressing Adeline, "Time to wash you up and get dressed."

She looked a little less than pleased at that, but didn't protest as Severus picked her up and carried her over to the bathroom. I watched as he turned on the faucet and with a hand towel washed off her mouth and face. Then he carried her back across the living room, into her bedroom. I stood up and followed, then watched as he pulled her out of the pajama suit.

"How's your diaper?" Severus asked Adeline as he pulled a shirt over her head. The two year old pushed her arms through it on her own.

"Poopy," she answered, looking at me as Snape went through some drawers, picking out a pair of pants and socks.

"Next time if you feel it coming, want to try the potty?" he asked as he carried her over to a changing table and produced a clean diaper.

Adeline just looked over at me, without answering. Severus didn't press her, just changed her diaper. _Wonderful_, I thought, _I've come right at the potty training stage_. I didn't really mind, kids were kids, poop was poop, and potty training was potty training. Once Adeline was ready for the day, Severus brought her back out, and asked, "Do you mind watching her? Mimi will take care of her during breakfast, and she can help out for the rest of the day but if you wanted too… We've arranged our schedules such that rarely are both of us busy."

"I wouldn't mind," I said quickly, looking at Adeline. She reached her arms out for me, and without asking Snape handed her over. I took her carefully and looked at her baby round face and eyes. No, I wouldn't mind watching her.

"How long?" I inquired, looking over at Severus.

"Well you know when your classes are," he said. I did- he'd shown me my schedule the night before. I had in between three and four classes a day to teach.

"Usually, since most of your classes are in the afternoon, you watch her in the morning, then I take her in the afternoon. The evenings depends on the day," Snape said.

"What do I have to do?" I asked him, looking back at Adeline.

"Change her diaper when it's dirty- she'll usually tell you that. If she'll use the potty that's good, praise her and you can give her a piece of candy if she does, it's in the top drawer of the dresser. If you need food, or snacks for her, just call for Mimi, she knows what to bring for Adeline," Severus explained, "She usually takes a nap when you get back from your classes… For entertainment, toys are in that chest by the sofa. She likes going and playing outside… you often take her to visit Hagrid, they're good friends. She's fairly creative on her own as well… And you might Floo to visit the Potters."

"All right," I nodded, feeling a little nervous at the responsibility but confident that I could handle it.

"Should we go to breakfast?" he inquired of me then, and I nodded. I was hungry. I wondered how much the school knew about me… did they know the true reason I was gone for two weeks?

"Mimi?" Snape inquired into the air, and a moment later the House Elf appeared. I set Adeline down on her feet, but she wouldn't let go of my hand.

"Your mother and I are going to breakfast," Severus told Adeline, "She'll be back soon. Be good, all right?"

Adeline nodded, looking very serious at this promise. Her hand dropped from mine and she looked at Mimi- about the same height as herself. I wondered how long Mimi had been watching Adeline for us. Either way, they seemed well acquainted. Severus nodded to me, and we walked towards the door. As I looked back, leaving, I saw Adeline take Mimi's hand and lead her across the living room with a smile.

"Mimi is excellent with children," Severus assured me as we left and he locked the door, then started down the hallway.

"I assumed so," I answered, "Or she wouldn't be watching Adeline."

"Yes," Severus said, his voice almost a mumble, as if to himself.

"Did you ever want children… before?" I asked of him as we strode down the hallway. I had to walk quicker than usual to keep up with his fast step.

"There are times to discuss personal relationships, Hermione," Severus said, glancing back at me, "And there are times to not. Public breakfast is one of those times."

"Oh," I said, feeling embarrassed. So once out of the privacy of ours rooms, Severus and I didn't show each other outward affection? Even though the whole school knew we were married? With children?

I shrugged, and followed him into the Great Hall, where students were already filling up the tables. I noticed, to my surprise, that the tables were not House specific. When had that change been made? I looked at Severus inquisitively.

"Your idea," he answered in response to my look, guessing correctly as to its meaning, "Implemented six years ago. They still sit with their Houses on sorting day and on special occasions, but otherwise they sit where they like. It encourages inter-house friendships, something that was severely lacking in our times."

I thought it was brilliant. Then I wondered if it was truly my idea… if I had gotten the idea from my future self. Where had it truly come from? I decided not to think about it, because things like that were the strange little quirks that went along with time travel. Like the fact that it was apparently because of my little time travel switch with my future self that I ended up marrying Snape…

The aforementioned sat at the center of the high table, and I took the empty spot beside him which I suspected was my usual seat. To my left was Neville, and beside him was McGonagall, looking as alive as ever. I was glad she was still around.

"Hermione!" Neville said with delight as I sat down. It was odd to have everyone around me look so much older whilst I was still the same age.

"Hi Neville," I said, feeling shy as I looked at the decade older now Herbology professor.

"We heard it had happened," he explained with a smile and a tilt of his head, "Again, I mean… I mean I remember when you came from the future, ten years ago. And now you've done it again. Switched. How are you?"

"Doing all right," I said, then glanced over at Snape. He had engaged Professor Vector in some conversation.

"And Harry and Ginny?" Neville added. He knew that's where I had been staying? I suppose some explanation had to have been offered for my absence.

"Good as well," I said, "I felt bad burdening them though what with Albus and James taking up so much time and energy."

"Don't feel too bad," Neville said with a grin, "It's your turn now with Adeline."

At the affection in his voice at the mention of my daughter, I realized that Adeline was probably a school pet… As far as I knew, Hogwarts had never hosted a married couple before. Most Professors weren't married, or weren't married to other Professors, and their spouses therefore lived in Hogsmeade or elsewhere, the children staying with the off Hogwarts parent. Which would make Adeline a very unusual addition.

"Adeline is adorable," I conceded, smiling at that thought of her banana eating escapade this morning, "But I do foresee a lot of work involved with her. And another one on the way… for the future me anyway."

"Yeah," Neville said, still grinning, "How many are you going to have?"

"Don't ask me," I answered with a smile, "I'm not there yet."

"Of course, of course," he said and continued eating his breakfast, at which I realized I still had no food on my plate, and so told it what I wanted.

"Still a little bit odd to realize that I marry Snape…" I said to Neville as my food appeared.

"Yes," Neville agreed with a nod and a forkful of food, "Bit of shock for us when we found out… I didn't learn until after you came back… But hey, I guess everyone can be different on the inside. What with the final battle and all though, a lot of opinions changed about him."

"I can hear you perfectly clearly you know," Severus said from my right and I glanced at him, embarrassed, but found a slight smile upon his face. I looked back at Neville, who mumbled, "Sorry," then stared at his plate, looking like he felt awkward.

The rest of the conversation was rather innocuous. I talked with McGonagall some, and everyone expressed some sort of comment about my strange time travel, but much less than I had expected. Apparently everyone had gotten used to it by now. As the Great Hall began to empty, Severus stood up and left, telling me I could return to our rooms whenever I wished, and then he left. Off to his Headmaster duties, I expected. A few minutes later, I too, stood, and wishing good day to Neville, went back to the rooms.

**A/N: And finally another chapter! Thanks once again to those wonderful beings who reviewed the last chapter!  
**


	14. Severus VII

My initial acceptance of the fact that the Hermione who had come from the future was married to _me_ in that future did not last long, though never once did I think she was lying. After we parted ways (soon after Weasley left) because neither of us felt like research and I felt like some time alone, I retreated to my office, where I sat staring at the paintings of past Headmasters. However, Dumbledore kept trying to pry whatever was bothering me from me, and I wasn't sure I could quite stand his gloating if he knew that I ended up married (no matter to whom), so I left, wondering where I could go where I didn't stand the chance of running into Hermione, and I finally settled on my own rooms. At least, I hoped I wouldn't run into her there. Undoubtedly she knew how to get in…

I sat in my chair in front of the fireplace, watching flames dance around on logs, musing. _Hermione Granger_. In the past few weeks I had entertained thoughts of flirting with her- this new, older her, that is, but my thoughts had never really gone farther because I didn't truly believe that she would ever want more than flirting. Also she would be gone in five months, no matter what I did or wanted. And because I didn't think she'd want more, I didn't let myself be bothered by the fact that she was, in reality, twenty years younger than I, though this version was only ten, nor did I let myself be bothered long by the fact that she was a former student of mine, and one I had not been particularly pleasant too. Of course, she was a Gryffindor. And friends with Potter. And a know-it-all. But none of that mattered any more.

I frowned, resting my chin on a hand. Did I even want to be married… to have children? Live every day of my life with someone else? I supposed that wouldn't be happening for some time now, but… after I lost Lily I never considered the idea of ever loving anyone again, and thus never considered the idea of getting married. I sighed… Lily. I still cherished her in my heart, but she was long dead now and the fact was that Hermione wasn't. She was here, and alive, and not likely to die any time soon. Not for ten years at least, anyway.

My logic was rebelling against me. It just couldn't see how loving and marrying Hermione made any sense. She was too young for me, she was a student of mine… But people DID marry people with a twenty year age gap. It had happened. And she was no longer a student of mine, especially not this Hermione. And she was beautiful, she was desirable. Though I hadn't noticed that until she had suddenly aged ten years.

Then there was children. My stomach twisted. Adeline, that two year old baby girl she spoke of? According to Hermione, she was mine as well. As was the baby growing inside of her now. A shiver ran down my spine. Children.

With a slight growl I forced myself to stop thinking about it. None of that would happen for years, not if what Hermione said was true. However… I sighed. There was the question of love. I had loved only one person in my entire life, and that was Lily. A love story that was now plastered across the Wizarding world… Damn Potter. I wasn't sure if I could love again, or if I even knew how. Hermione seemed confident enough about it though, and I couldn't imagine her marrying someone if she wasn't sure he loved her. She was not one to be deceived.

How the hell did she end up loving me anyway? Her younger self was apparently in the future now, interacting with the future me. The one who was married to this Hermione. Already in love with her. Maybe it wasn't so hard to imagine. My eyes bore holes in the fireplace. Finally I stood up and paced around the room.

After a few hours, there was a knock on the door. I froze, then went and opened it, and found who I knew would be there. Hermione. I stepped aside for her to entire, without asking any questions. I wanted to talk to her, anyway. I had a few questions for her.

"You don't look stressed," she said lightly (and sarcastically) as she entered, and then seated herself on the sofa near the fire. She looked like she had been outside. Her cheeks were pink and there were snowflakes in her hair. Snowflakes? I moved over to look outside the window, and sure enough, hundreds of tiny white flakes were gently sailing down over the grounds. First snow of the year. Christmas was coming.

"I'm not," I told her, resuming my previous seat, and avoiding her eyes, "I'm only contemplating the fact that one of my former students apparently ends up marrying me."

"It's not so bad," she said with a smile, because she knew I didn't think it was so bad. Strange, unsettling, and confusing. But bad? Upon contemplation… not really.

"How…" I started, then wondered if the question was appropriate, before deciding it didn't matter, "How do you love me?" It was surprisingly harder to say than I thought it would be. I wasn't used to talking about my feelings. Nor love, specifically.

"Come now, Severus," she said, her voice emitting warmth, "Don't be silly. If Lily could like you, so can I."

"I am not the same person I was when younger," I retorted, "And _you_ marry me. Lily did not."

"She might have," Hermione pointed out, then shook her head and said, "But that's beside the point, because she didn't, and I did. Do. I know you're a selfish, ambitious, and occasionally inconsiderate person. Don't think I'm deluded. Nor will I try and change you. I love you anyway. I love the fact that you _can_ love, despite what you've done."

I appreciated the fact that she said "what you've done" instead of "what you've been through." I'm not sure it would have worked if she loved me out of pity or some sense of my inner heroism or something. I didn't point out the fact that I didn't love her, not yet. She'd fallen in love with me when I did, so that didn't matter.

"Then I will no longer question you," I said, then added, "About your feelings, that is."

"But you will about your own?" she smiled, then scooted closer to the fire and said, "Sit next to me."

I hesitated, then obeyed. But I made sure there was a least a few inches between us. She smiled at me, then reached over and took my hand. I let her, wrapping her warm fingers in my own. It was a good feeling. Surprisingly good.

We stared into the fire together like that for a few minutes, until Hermione turned back to me and said, "Don't be afraid."

"I'm not," I answered, wondering if she knew more about me than I knew about myself, and I actually was afraid. But I didn't feel it. Not right now. What I felt now was… natural. It felt right. My brain said it was wrong, but my heart said it was right.

"I miss you," she said, "I've missed you. It's been so hard… being with you but not able to _be_ with you. Wanting to tell you I love you… But knowing you're not ready to hear it."

"I doubt that I'm ready now," I answered dryly, marveling at the fact that Hermione missed me. I turned my eyes from the fire and looked at her, _truly_ looked at her.

I looked into her eyes, and seeing the love there, part of me wanted to disdain it. I wanted to tell her she was a foolish, ridiculous girl for falling in love with me, and to go back to Weasley. I wanted to tell her that I would never love her, and I wanted to tell her… I wanted to tell her that I was not someone she wanted to love.

But I couldn't. Because she'd know I'd be lying, because she had seen my future. And in the future… I loved her. I must have told her it too, and I must have meant it. I meant it so much I married her, and was having children with her. I couldn't imagine loving anyone enough to want to have kids. I looked at her stomach, round with the child growing inside her. Mine, if she told true. I had no doubt she did, partly from my good ability to read people after learning Legilimency (not that I was reading her mind, one just learned what outer signals went with what inner thoughts after a while), and partly from the fact that I didn't believe this Hermione would lie to me.

I hoped Hermione couldn't read my thoughts on my face. I liked to think I was an emotionally reserved person, but I knew I wasn't, most of the time. When I was angry, I was angry, when happy, I… gloated. When I was unhappy, I took it out on others. The only part of emotion I was reserved about would have to be true friendship, true liking… and love. I looked away from Hermione. She was probably right about being afraid. I probably was afraid. But I didn't know if I was, because I wouldn't let myself feel that way.

Another part of me wanted to take advantage of the fact that she was holding my hand and confessing her love to me. That part wanted to lean over and kiss her, hold her… take what she offered by telling me the future. Take advantage of her and be cruel to her, to prove her wrong about the future she was so sure of.

But the last part of me, possibly the smallest part, said no. Don't tell her to go away. Don't hurt her. I don't know if it's because I knew I didn't… based on what she told me. If I had hurt her, or been cruel to her, she never would have married me. But that wasn't it, not all of it. I didn't want to because… a very tiny part of me wanted the future to play out as she said it did. I wanted love, and marriage, and happiness, and children. I wondered what the me of the future was like. I suddenly knew then, with firm conviction, that if it were not for her mysterious incident of time travel, the future would not have happened as she claimed it did. I knew that if Hermione, her nineteen year old self had somehow fallen in love with me, through some sort of working together, or not, and told me of it, that I would laugh at her. I would laugh at her and reject her and never think of it again, even if I had started to entertain some feelings for her, emotional or physical. That realization changed me, because I now knew that I was wrong. If that had happened, and that's what I did, I would have been wrong.

I looked back into the fire, and I wondered what fate had decided this future for the two of us, because I certainly knew it would not have happened on its own.

**A/N: Thanks for reading!! Feedback appreciated!**


	15. Hermione VII

When I entered the rooms I now shared with Severus, Adeline greeted me with a shout of "Mama!" and ran over to me, her little feet padding on the floor. She then attached herself to my leg and looked up at me with a smile. Mimi stood respectively off to the side, holding a stuffed Crup. She always looked so quiet and shy when I saw her; I found it hard to imagine her playing with and taking care of Adeline.

"Thank you Mimi," I said to the House Elf, who then bowed, and disappeared with a slight pop. I wondered what else she did at Hogwarts.

"Hey Adeline," I said, kneeling down to look at her, "So what did you and Mimi do?"

Adeline, instead of vocalizing her answer, ran over and picked up the Crup toy, then held it up towards me with a smile. It wagged its tail.

"Ooh," I said, with a nod, "Seems very fun. You want to keep playing with stuffed animals?"

I said stuffed animals because about four others were also lying about the room. One of them was meandering across the carpet in much the same fashion I recalled robotic Muggle toys did when I was a kid. In other words, not very realistically. Adeline started running around the room, picked up all the toys until she held all of them in her arms. It took a couple tries with some, because once she got three of them in her arms one or more would fall out as she tried to pick up more. Then she took them and placed them on the sofa, where by their various magical movements, they started spreading out again. The Crup wagged its tail again and looked at us helplessly.

I watched as she very carefully kept the animals all in one area, replacing quickly any that wandered. She mumbled as she did so, soft syllables and consonants that weren't quite words yet. It was her own language, apparently, but she was very articulate about it. After a few minutes I walked over and kneeled down by the sofa, wondering if she wanted any help in this particular activity, or if she expected me to do something on my own. Which I then remembered I did have things to do. Severus had given me the notes the substitute Professor had prepared for me during the two weeks she taught my class, explaining what she had gone over and what homework she had assigned, and such.

So I stood up, and went into my bedroom, and took the leather folder, then went back to the living room and sat on the sofa next to the stuffed animal pile that Adeline was watching and taking care of. I pulled it open and removed the parchment from it, then started leafing through. On top was a letter from the substitute, which I read quickly and then moved on. Upon looking through it, I found my information deficient. I assumed a class list would be in my office, as well as the things I had been covering all year.

"Adeline," I said, looking at the two year old.

She looked over at me.

"Want to go to my office so I can get some papers for class?" I inquired of her, "We'll be quick."

She grabbed a Kneazle toy, and clutched it to herself, then looked at me expectantly. The Kneazle's legs moved mechanically against her chest. I took this to be consent, so I stood up, leather folder in hand, and then picked Adeline up with my other arm, resting her on my hip, and walked over to the door.

The hallways were mostly deserted because most students were now in class. Adeline sat quietly in my arms, clutching the stuffed toy and looking around as we walked. It didn't take long to reach my office, only a floor and a few hallways away. Once inside, I put Adeline down and looked around. Ten years had not changed it much.

There were a few more books on the shelves, quite a few more, in fact, and a few new paintings on the wall, as well as a Holyhead Harpies banner, smaller than the one in Ginny's living room. I walked around to the desk, and sat down in the chair behind it. Adeline followed me, then reached up for me, so I picked her up and placed her on my lap.

"What do you think Adeline?" I asked her, pulling open the drawers to look through them. They were just as organized as they had been ten years ago. I had fifteen classes, two for each year except for second years Gryffindor and Slytherin, who had the class alone, which meant I had three second year classes.

Adeline responded with a series of words I could not understand, then slid down from my lap and ran around to the other side of the desk. I took the information I needed, several folders worth of it, and followed her.

"Come on, let's go back," I said, and opened the door. Adeline followed me along, then took my hand and we walked back together.

I spent the rest of that morning looking through the class files, figuring out what I needed to do and mentally preparing myself for it. I also fed Adeline a mid morning snack, and rewarded her use of the potty a little later. For the most part, she entertained herself. After finishing playing with the stuffed animals, she flipped through several picture books, all with moving images and then stacked blocks for a while. I played hide and go seek with her as it was nearing noon. Just as she was starting to look sleepy, Severus returned.

"How's Adeline?" he asked as he entered.

I looked at where the two year old was sitting on the floor, staring, mesmerized, at the pictures in one of her books. I was sitting at the table, flipping through notes and textbooks, getting ready to teach. My first class was in half an hour.

"Entertaining herself all day, mostly," I answered, "I've been looking through my class stuff."

"Feeling ready to face the criticisms of eleven year olds?" Severus asked, sounding amused. A wry smile appeared on his lips.

"Not quite," I said, "In my time I've only been teaching a month… I'm afraid I won't be able to live up to the standards I already set for myself."

"Students love you," Severus answered, "You have nothing to worry about."

"I wish I could believe that," I said as Severus walked over to Adeline and picked her up, giving her a kiss on the forehead.

"Naptime," he informed her. She made a face but didn't argue, instead just leaned, reaching for the book still on the floor. Severus picked it up to and handed it to her, then carried her over to her room.

I stood up and followed, watching as he laid her down in the crib and lowered the shades, making the room dark, and then shut the door quietly, coming out to stand near me. He smiled, then went over and sat down on the sofa.

"She was good?" he inquired of me.

I nodded, and walked back to the place I had previously occupied in front of the table. There I stared getting my things together. My back was to Severus, and once more, I felt uncomfortable with him around. What should I say to him? I finally turned around, clutching the leather folder, and sat back down in my chair, looking over towards Severus.

"Can I ask you a personal question?" I said carefully, watching for his reaction.

"Ask me anything Hermione," he answered, "And I will answer it. There is no such thing as a personal question between you and I."

"What about Lily?" I asked.

"Lily?" he didn't look surprised. Maybe he'd already had this conversation with me.

"Am I just a replacement for her?" I pressed.

"No," he stated simply.

"But it seemed… it seemed your love for her was so powerful that even though it was never returned, even though she died, you continued living for her, and for her son… You don't ever regret that it's not her, here, with you, instead of me?" I trailed off as I saw the look in Serervus's eyes that said none of that mattered to him now.

"No," Severus said, once more simply, though this time he did elaborate, "I do not regret that I never married Lily, because the way things worked out, I got to marry you instead. It caused me pain, yes even for many years, but in the end… I am glad she married James Potter and not I, because if I had married Lily, I would not be with _you_ now."

"Oh," I said softly, feeling sort of amazed. Even though it was stupid, a part of me was thinking, _he really DOES love me!_ I sort of slid back into my seat and averted my eyes from him, though I wanted to keep staring at him, taking in his expression and features. Had he been like this before? In my time? Or was this a change I had wrought in him… this quiet thoughtfulness and care? I wanted to go back now, and see, look at Severus Snape with new eyes…

"You had better be getting to class," he commented after a few moments.

I nodded, and gathered up my things, then, giving him a sort of shy smile, I left, feeling like facing a class of probably bored teenagers only a few years younger than myself was nowhere near as difficult as facing Snape after knowing I married him. The smile stayed on my face.


	16. Severus VIII

The next few days were decidedly weird. Hermione acted as if everything were the same, at least when we were not alone, and indeed… the very sameness was partially what made it strange. Everything _was_ the same. Hermione still chatted with Minerva about the future and this and that at breakfast, she still taught her classes, I went about my Headmaster duties as usual… And it was the same. Except at meals, and when we passed in the halls, Hermione would give me this glance, this special look, and a slight smile, just barely noticeable, would appear on her lips, just for me.

Now, knowing what I knew, understanding what I did, it scared me and delighted me at the same time. She was smiling for _me_. It was also unnerving and terrifying that I recognized that it was scary and delightful. Being honest about how I felt was not something I was used to doing. It was, in some ways, uplifting. I found myself smiling when I wasn't thinking about it, scaring students out of my path.

After a week, I determined two things. One, was that I had to get her a Christmas present. The other, was that I had to take her on a date. I would _not_ have a creepy old man, sneaking around teacher/student relationship, though it wasn't really relevant as I was no longer her professor, nor were we quite in a relationship. The Christmas present was relatively easily. I simply walked down to Hogsmeade one afternoon, trudging through the snow despite the fact that it would have been easier to Apparate once I was off school grounds. I felt like walking.

The date, however, was not as easy. Not because Hermione said no, but because I realized that asking her was more difficult than I would have thought. _Don't ask her on a DATE!_ part of me berated myself, _Tell her to go away!_ I didn't want her to go away.

So I just asked her, one Saturday while I read, albeit reluctantly, modern Muggle psychology journals and textbooks. We'd been there for a few hours already, and I just looked up from my book. She was leaning over the table on her elbows, reading a magical book quite intently. She'd been changing her position every few minutes, unable to get properly comfortable what with her baby now getting quite large. She had her hair loose, and it fell over her shoulders, hiding her face slightly, but I could still see the gentle flush on her cheeks that had become more pronounced with every month of her pregnancy. She was so young, and so beautiful, in the prime of her life at twenty-nine. I still found it hard to believe she really knew what she was doing, marrying me… But then I remembered she was still in a relationship with me ten years after initiating it, and my doubts vanished.

"Hermione," I said softly, and she looked over at me quizzically, straightening up slowly, "I would like to ask you to dinner for Christmas eve."

"Oh!" she looked delighted, "I'd love to!"

"Good," I answered shortly, and was unable to keep in a slight smile at her response. I looked back at my book, but I couldn't focus any longer on the words.

I looked back over at her, and asked, "So your family… Potter… Weasley… they all know you marry me in the future?"

She nodded, looking over at me curiously, sensing I had more to ask, more questions for her to answer.

"When exactly does Hogwarts find out about this?" I inquired, "Now, or after you go back to the future?"

Hermione smirked at me, but in a friendly kind of way, and said, "Are you asking me when we get into a relationship? Now, between us, or later, between you and younger me?"

I resisted the urge to glare at her and simply arched an eyebrow at her and said starchly, "What do you think I am asking?"

"Both, probably," she said, shifting her weight to a different elbow and then sitting back down in the chair. She left the book on the table. Her hands absentmindedly caressed her stomach as she watched me. I waited.

"The general staff, as _you_ tell _me_ once I get back, don't find out until younger me and you get into a relationship. This is because though it would suit us fine to be open about it, it would be awkward for you and younger me once I got back… Needless to say a few of them know… certain intelligent older ladies by which I mean Minerva. And Hagrid, but from your point of view he doesn't really count," Hermione said, "In other words… we do get into a relationship now, _you_ and _I_, but no one knows about it to keep things simpler for when I leave."

I stared at her, feeling slightly unsettled. The way she pronounced 'you and I' was decidedly… suggestive. I thought about what she said. It made sense… I still wondered about what would happen when she left… the younger Hermione. The one that belonged in this time… she was so much younger. I could imagine myself with this Hermione, but one that was ten years younger? Hmm… I wanted to kiss her. I wondered why I didn't, but no answer came to mind immediately, so I just kept staring at her. Drinking in her appearance with my eyes. She was doing the same to me, I noticed suddenly. There was something I didn't get very often- an appreciative look from a woman. I smiled, and looked down at my Muggle textbook. It was about ten minutes before I was able to actually _read_ the words on the page instead of just staring at them.

The next day I went to visit the Ministry of Magic, in order to gain permission for the use of a Time Turner and to speak with those in the Department of Mysteries that were studying time. It was probably something I should have done earlier, but the Ministry of Magic was still undergoing extreme change and I wasn't sure it was entirely trustworthy yet. If it ever would be.

There wasn't really anyone there who could help me at the moment, but I got a few contacts and managed to get through an application for a time turner that didn't sound ludicrous. As Headmaster of Hogwarts I doubted they would deny me one for purely academic purposes.

On the way back I stopped in Diagon Alley, wondering what was the kind of the gift that Hermione Granger would like for Christmas. I hadn't gone Christmas shopping in longer than I could remember, and I had never imagined I'd be doing it for Hermione. After wandering up and down the streets for a while I finally went into Flourish and Blotts to get her a book. Nothing else seemed like it would interest her, well, nothing I could imagine getting her anyway. George Weasley was still running his joke shop, and I'm sure Hermione would have liked something from there, but that was hardly something _I_ wanted to get for her. Nor could I imagine actually _entering_ that shop without causing an uproar. Granted Weasley did know now that I hadn't been attacking _him_ when I blew off his ear, but there would never be close feelings between any Weasley and I.

I bought her a book about Muggles and magic, and how magic is strengthened through certain lines, weakened through others, and how a muggleborn comes to have magical powers. I thought it looked mildly interesting, and as she was interested in Muggles, having been brought up as one, I thought she might like it as well. I did _not_ get her jewelry or flowers. I didn't really think she'd appreciate them as much as some women did, and it seemed… it wasn't me.

I took the Floo network back to my office, where I hid the book. It would not stay hidden long. Christmas was only a week away. Once that was finished, I took out our notes about time travel, musing over them. Was the answer really locked in Hermione's subconscious mind? Most of what I had read of her Muggle textbooks seemed quite frankly ludicrous… but some of it lined up with what I knew from studying Legilimency and Occlumency.

The week before Christmas went by in a blur of preparations for the break, figuring out who was staying and who wasn't, how much the House Elves would have to cook for the students and staff who _were_ staying for Christmas dinner on Christmas day. Making sure Hagrid didn't do something stupid with the decorations, like putting Pixies in the trees instead of Fairies... I shuddered at that thought.

But anyway, before I knew it, it was Christmas Eve, and I was standing before Hermione's door after knocking, waiting for her to come out. Her wrapped present was tucked under one my arms. She opened the door, and I was delighted to see she wasn't wearing her usual teaching robes, but a more elegant piece. The dark green robe draped her form beautifully, even with (or perhaps enhanced by) her pregnancy.

I had been feeling uneasy about the date all day (from the part of me that was still against this), and it had made me more than unusually snappy at students. I had docked nearly fifty points total, from all three Houses that I docked points from. But now, seeing Hermione, seeing how beautiful she was, I didn't care anymore. I felt self conscious, I felt frustrated, but I also just didn't care. That would be the selfish part of me, because she was lovely, and I was happy to be with her.

We walked to the Hogwarts entrance, and then took a carriage to Hogsmeade. It was too far to walk in the dark, cold, and with her pregnancy, and doctors didn't recommend Apparating for pregnant women. Of course, she was already doing time travel, which was probably worse, but no need to exacerbate more potential problems. There was a nice restaurant there, one that wasn't also a bar and was not commonly frequented by students.

I handed her present to her while we waited for our appetizers to arrive. She was drinking only pumpkin juice (being pregnant), and so out of respect to her I too declined any alcoholic drinks. Still, the idea of Hermione _declining_ alcohol as if she was used to it amused me. She certainly was doing a good job of making me see that she (and the Hermione of my time) really had grown up. As if being pregnant wasn't enough.

To my surprise, as I reached across the table, gently setting the wrapped book before her, Hermione too presented me with a package. I shouldn't have been surprised, after all, it was _Hermione_, but for some reason I was. I wondered what she could possibly fathom I'd want for a Christmas present, then remembered she had ten years of experience knowing me behind her to back her up.

"Open yours first," Hermione instructed me, with a smile.

I looked down. It looked, like my present for hers, suspiciously like a book. It was wrapped in dark green paper, with no ribbons or tags. I turned it over, curious as to what kind of book she would think I'd enjoy. I peeled back the green paper, then Vanished it, and turned the book over, wondering why Hermione was smirking. The title was _The Basics of Time Travel_. I looked up at her with a frown, perplexed.

"Once I'm gone you and the me of your own time will pour over that book, read every inch and the next six volumes… None of them are very much help but maybe you'll see something in them that I forgot about or something… I figured I might as well get you started since I noticed you didn't have it yet. You never told me _I _was the one who gave it to you though…" Hermione said. Now I knew why she was smirking. More quirks of time travel. I suddenly felt embarrassed about my more personal, less humorous gift, but the embarrassment didn't last long. I was not one to be self conscious.

"Thank you," I said, then motioned for her to open her gift, setting the time travel book gently off to the side.

She tore the wrapping paper off, then her eyes peered at the cover of the book, and immediately she started rifling through the pages, her eyes bright with curiosity. I let myself smile slightly… at least it was a good choice.

"Happy Christmas," I said, and she looked up with a smile.

"Happy Christmas to you as well, Severus."

**A/N: Even though it is no where near Christmas, you get two chapters at once, so Happy Christmas!**


	17. Hermione VIII

**A/N: SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY about the long update time!! I'm taking five classes this semester, three of which are labs and so I have like no free time. I just today managed to reply to an email someone sent me thirteen days ago! So here's a chapter, possibly more if I have the time to upload them. :)**

Before this mysterious incident of time travel, I had been a Professor at Hogwarts for only a single month. I was never entirely sure _why_ I had chosen to remain at Hogwarts after finally graduating, but I think most of it was that _here_ was one place I could really help in the recovery with the war. I hadn't, however, planned on _staying_ a Professor, but apparently I changed my mind. I wondered how much falling in love with Snape had to do with that. Either way, it made approaching a class _expecting_ a teacher with ten years experience quite difficult.

All in all, it didn't go so badly. One difference was that none of the students in the classes were ones that I had actually gone to Hogwarts with- the youngest of those had graduated three years ago or so. The students (third year Gryffindors for the first class) were all courteous and listened as I lectured them on the basics of defense…

About half way through the class a hand went up in the air. It was a short kid with reddish brown hair and round glasses perched on his nose. There was a curious, slightly nervous expression on his face. I wondered what he wanted to know- it clearly wasn't about the advanced jinxes I was now discussing.

"Yes?" I asked, glancing at my roster for the boy's name. William Burr.

"Uh, Professor Granger?" he started, glancing at the other kid sitting next to him before looking back at me, "Since you've time traveled to the future… this means that the Defeat of the Dark Lord happened just a year ago for you, right?"

I nodded slowly, and noticed the whole class was suddenly paying more attention to me than before.

"Well, Professor Granger, I mean, the normal one we have… she wouldn't give us too many details about it but… since it's more recent for you… maybe you would?" Burr inquired hopefully.

I wondered why the me ten years from now was reluctant to discuss the story… perhaps I'd been asked so many times it had gotten tedious. I shrugged, why not? These kids had only been about three when the whole thing was over, to young to remember anything.

"Well I assume you know the story of the first rise of the Dark Lord Voldemort," I said, and the kids nodded. I noticed the lack of worry at my pronunciation of his name. _There_ was something that hadn't quite disappeared yet in my time.

"And Harry Potter's defeat of him?" More nods.

"Well, I first met Harry Potter in my first year, we were both in Gryffindor," the students all nodded, but didn't look bored, "We didn't become friends until he and Ron Weasley rescued me from a troll that Professor Quirrell (his mind taken over by Voldemort) had let into the dungeons. If it weren't for that incident I probably would never have been more involved than any other of the students in my year…."

The rest of the day was much the same. Almost all the classes were interested in knowing my side of the story first hand… I supposed older me probably told them to just read the books, they'd get more detail and adventure there. But instead of lecturing on jinxes and hexes and the lures of Dark magic, I told in detail of my adventures during what should have been my seventh year at Hogwarts… told it, but not without giving myself a few shivers. Voldemort was gone, but my memories of him were not.

OOO

Almost a month went by before I was visited by any friends, Harry and Ginny mostly because Ginny gave birth a week after I left (a little girl) and had been preoccupied with her. It had been a rough birth, and Ginny had only gotten out of the Hospital a week ago. An invitation to visit was promised for some time soon… It was getting into the first few weeks of December. There hadn't yet been any snow, but the clouds were looking wispy and suggestive up in the sky, and every once and a while a white flake would sail past my face, a lone dare devil.

I suppose it was good in a way, it kept my mind of Ron. After getting back to Hogwarts, I spent the first nights falling asleep wishing I could see him and apologize, or tell him I was wrong… but as Harry and Ginny had pointed out, that would be silly, and only cause both of us more pain. As time went by I was almost more hurt by how quickly he seemed to be fading in my heart than the fact that he was fading at all. Had I really loved him so little that when I found him not in my future, my attentions so easily latched onto another man? Maybe it was just the total immersement in life with Snape. Life with Severus. He really wasn't so bad… and I wasn't sure if it was because he changed, or my perspective had changed…

One morning as I was strolling the grounds before classes, a scarf wrapped around my neck, I saw a familiar red head jogging across the lawn toward me, and I stopped short, suddenly afraid.

"Hey Hermione!" Ron yelled, and I started walking again, towards him.

"Ron," I said as he stopped in front of me, his cheeks red from the chill, "What are you doing here?"

"Came to see you, of course," he said with a grin, "Bout time, huh?"

I simply stared at him, unsure of how to react. The last time I had parted with him it was with "I love you"s instead of goodbyes. Now I wasn't sure how I felt. Ron's smile faded sympathetically as he took in my expression, and he laid a hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, 'Mione," he said, still the same even after ten years, "It's okay. Let's just walk, and talk, and see how thing go? If it's still too much for you, just say so, and I'll leave. I just think, and Harry and Ginny too, that it might help to see _me_ before you leave, the future me. Because I'm okay, I really am. Even though ten years ago I was ready to murder Snape for stealing you away, I'm good now. I'm happy, and I think that's something you should know before going back to your own time. Sometime to reassure you, right?"

"Right," I said, letting out a shaky breath, then looking up into his eyes. Ron. I felt the normal rush of friendly affection, but the passion was almost nonexistent, though I had the feeling if circumstances changed, it would come right back up again. I fought the urge to reach up and touch his face… maybe kiss him…

"Let's walk," Ron said and grabbed my hand, "Come on."

I followed along, walking across dying grass towards the lake with him. For the first few minutes neither of us spoke. I had no idea what _to_ say, and maybe he was just being silent out of respect for me. When we reached the edge of the lake he halted, and turned to face me once more, and the expression on his face was so content and happy, I almost blurted out that I still loved him, and wanted to be with him again, but I didn't. A gap had already formed between him and my heart… saying otherwise would be, (though it hurt to admit it), a lie.

"So what's life like in this time… for you?" I asked him, avoiding looking at his eyes. His hair was shorter than it had been in my time, by a few inches. But it was still Ron.

"Oh it's good," he said with a smile and a nod, "I'm an Auror. Well, part time, anyway… A lot of us became Aurors after the defeat of Voldemort, went around tracking down the last Death Eaters. But in the past few years there hasn't really been a need for all of us, so I mostly help George with Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes."

"How is George?" I inquired, thinking painfully of Fred, only a year gone in my mind… It was so strange to be in this world where the tragedy still relatively fresh in my heart was history for everyone else. Strange to see how radically circumstances had changed. I knew Harry and Ron had both become Aurors, and had been very tempted to join them myself. I wondered if I had, would none of this happened? Would I still have time traveled? Was the cause of the time travel in my time, or this one? Something in me suspected the cause was from this time, because travel to the future was, until now, unheard of… so it would make sense if this was really just a weird case of traveling to the past. _The past_. I sighed… _I am the past._

"… one half of a single identity, but I guess he's slowly coming to terms with being only himself. He does all right. We all do," Ron said and I realized I had not been listening to him. He looked over at me, a worried expression on his face.

"You'll do all right too, Hermione," Ron said, "You must see that. Look at Adeline!"

"I think I probably already love _her_," I said with a smile, joking with him. The wind whipped up a little, and I realized my nose was getting cold.

"She's definitely very lovable," Ron agreed with a grin, "Can't wait to have kids of my own…"

I looked at Ron- his gaze was over the lake now, and thought of the kids I had always imagined we'd have together… There was a pinching feeling in my chest and I shoved those thoughts away, wishing suddenly and fiercely that I could change time. Reason told me I couldn't, but logically I couldn't see why _not_. I believed in free will… why couldn't I go back and undo what future me had wrought? Make those red headed babies a reality? Erase Adeline from existence…. I frowned, and kicked at the snow.

"You know something Hermione?" Ron inquired a few moments later, and I met his gaze quickly, feeling desperately close to screaming with frustration.

"We never would have worked out together, anyway," he said, which was very much _not_ what I wanted to hear at the moment, "We think too differently. I loved what was different in you, I imagine you loved what was different in me… but ultimately there wasn't really anything we could sit down and discuss over dinner, chat about over a breakfast, just the two of us… With Voldemort gone and us settled into our careers, we would have slowly drifted apart, with nothing common to hold us together, no passion to see reflected in the other. You know?"

I stared at him, and I wanted to hit him and hug him at the same time. I pushed away those feelings- for the moment, and thought about what he said… or rather _forced_ myself to think about what he said. My mind wanted to whirl about the unfairness and stupid mysteriousness of the whole thing… rant about the inconsistencies of fate and time… I thought about what he said and frowned.

Maybe he was right. Maybe it wouldn't have worked out. But maybe it would have. And now we'd never have the chance to see if it would. I suppose what I was mad about wasn't really about Ron. It was about choice. I wasn't feeling the pain of lost love, but the sharp coils of unchangeable fate. I looked up at Ron. I looked at his face. That moment was when I realized that I no longer loved him. Even if I could change time, go back now… I wouldn't get back together with him. I wouldn't necessarily go for Snape either, but I wouldn't go back to Ron. I looked at him, frowned, and then nodded.

"You're probably right," I said softly , "Thank you for coming. I should probably get back inside now. See you in the past."

He nodded, and I turned, heading back up the castle. He did not follow, and when I turned back at the entrance, he was gone.

Severus was sitting in our rooms when I returned. I felt the usual creepy uneasiness when I saw him there… I was still not used to associating him with home. Adeline was curled up on the sofa, fast asleep. I took off my coat and scarf and draped them over a chair, then walked over to stand above her. Her breath came in little shallow puffs, and I reached down, running my hand from her hair, down the soft curve of her back through fuzzy pajamas, and down her little legs to her toes. So soft, all of her. I realized I could never choose her out of existence, even if I had the power.

I sat down beside her, then looked over at Severus. He was watching me curiously, still quiet, as if he understood what was going on in my head. I looked at him, and I wondered what being in a relationship with him was like. What did _we_ talk about over breakfast… if what Ron said was true, it had to be something. What was that commonality that held us together? I suddenly realized I was curious to find out… curious in the relationship that would form between me and the Severus Snape of my own time…

I couldn't change time… but maybe I didn't really want to, after all.

"Severus?" I asked of him, already more bold with him than ever before.

"Yes?" he responded.

"Why do you love me?"


	18. Severus IX

Dinner went smoothly. Hermione finally tore herself away from the book I got from her, and we ordered our dishes. As we were in a public place, our conversation stayed within the range of employer/employee… Well probably more in the range of friend to friend. Hermione spoke about Harry and Ginny, and Ron in the future, of which I wasn't particularly interested but I could tell she was missing them, so let her speak. I was content to watch her for the most part. Watch her and muse on the differences I saw in her now, the differences in my perspective of her. I wondered if I really had any choice here… She said we were married in the future, but what happened to the future being changeable? If I did so now, could I change that? Could I not marry her? From what I knew of time, I doubted it, but what was interesting was that I didn't really care, because I knew I would not try to change it.

"Tell me about Adeline," I said at one point, over our dinner, as the previous topic started to dwindle, "Your daughter…"

Hermione looked momentarily startled, for this was the first we had touched on our future together… But I did not ask her about myself. Just Adeline.

"I miss her," she finally said, I felt sympathy for her… I wanted to comfort her, this Hermione estranged in the past without her child, without her husband… I wondered if I was a worthy substitute, or if I kissed her, she'd imagine it was the future me…

"I miss her a lot," she continued, "She has dark hair, like yours, a round face, a creative mind… We were starting potty training when I left. She's already learned the word 'poopy' though her first was 'Papa'. Her favorite food is yogurt and as of now she hasn't suffered any lasting mental impairment from any Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes… she adores George and Ron."

"Hmm," I said, wondering what 'lasting mental impairment' meant. It also made me think about the fact that marrying Hermione would forever place me in close proximity with Weasleys and Potters. I supposed that probably wouldn't matter, in the long run. I wondered what it would be like to look at a baby and have it call me 'Papa'. I thought about children… how I never expected to have them.

"Once, she got hold of your, uh, her father's wand… Let me just say that at least we know she isn't a squib!" Hermione said with a chuckle and a look that said _that was funny but I hope it NEVER happens again_.

"I'm still afraid…" Hermione said after a brief pause. A slight frown niggled at her lips. Her fork lay quiet in her hand.

"Yes?" I inquired, taking a sip of pumpkin juice.

"Afraid of what's going to happen," she whispered, then took a bite of her food and chewed it- to take the place of speaking, I presumed.

"When you return?" I inquired.

She nodded, "Yes… It's just so… strange. Why all of this happens. Travel to the future… I did it, though it defies modern magical theory. I'm going to do it again too, in a few months, when I go back. Though technically that's just returning to the present. But for you this IS the present… maybe there's no such thing as past and future… But after ten years, we still have no explanation. I knew about Adeline ahead of time, but this little one… I know nothing about him or her. It's like I've been reading a story, and the pages all go blank where the summary on the back stopped summarizing. Bam. Story is over."

I stared at her, then set my glass down slowly and said, "I've said it before: I don't think you have anything to worry about. There is no meaning here, no destiny… just events. So you got a glimpse of the future ten years ago, and now you're there. It doesn't _mean_ anything. There isn't anything you are meant to do, no overarching danger you have to become aware of, or warn me about. In two months, you will return to your own time, deliver that baby, and go on with your life."

"But _why_?" Hermione persisted, her brown eyes gazing intently into my own.

"I think you will know," I said slowly, "And only _can_ know… until after you give birth. The key then will present itself."

"Hmm," she said, and leaned back in her chair.

When we got back to Hogwarts, I walked her back to her rooms through the hallways. All students were already secluded into their common rooms, eagerly awaiting Christmas day. Despite the lack of much of a moon, the halls were light, from the snow's reflectivity. Somewhere around the entrance hall, Hermione had leaned up against me, and we had walked the whole way like that, her head resting on my shoulder, my arm around her waist. It was very nice.

"You know," Hermione said, looking up at me as we stood there, in the half darkness, "The future you isn't someone else. There's no dramatic changes… You're you. Here, there… this you just doesn't know everything that's happened. And even though I know you don't love me yet… I want to tell you this. I love you. Severus."

I stared down at her. Had she known I'd been thinking about that? Comparing myself to her future husband… someone who bore my name but I only barely related to? I looked down at her, this young woman (still young despite aging ten years), and was amazed at her. Amazed that she would say that… amazed that she was _her_. She loved me.

So I leaned down and kissed her. Kissed a woman I hadn't ever imagined kissing until these past few months. Kissed a woman I was falling in love with. Kissed Hermione. It was a soft, gentle kiss, almost chaste, though undoubtedly she'd kissed me hundreds of times before.

"Mmm," she said when we pulled apart, "I've missed kissing you."

"And I've never had a kiss from you to miss before," I pointed out with an amused smile, as I slid my arms around her waist.

She smirked up at me and said, "Remember that when you kiss me again- the me of your present. _She_ has never kissed you before."

"I can't kiss _you_ again?" I inquired softly, reaching up with one hand to run my fingers through her long hair that (though still bushy) I no longer found unattractive.

"_Please_ kiss me again," Hermione said, "I've been deprived _far_ too long."

"Only three months," I pointed out, leaning a little closer to her, "Or has my unknowing presence been driving you mad?"

"Definitely driving me mad," Hermione asserted, "You have no idea how wonderful it is to just be able to hold your hand. Though I did have fun taunting you."

"I thought so," I answered, lowering my voice, and then kissed her again, a little harder this time. Midway through the kiss I felt the soft touch of her tongue running along my lips and I opened my mouth for her. She tasted like pumpkin juice, which was probably what I tasted like at the moment as well…

She pulled away sooner than I'd have liked, and opened the door to her rooms. I followed her inside and watched as she lit a few low lights. When she glanced back at me, I raised an eyebrow and she smirked at me, then lit the fire in her fireplace with a gentle swish of her wand.

"Just kissing," she said, walking back over to me, "But that's what you get for flirting with a pregnant woman. Urgh. Just two more months and this little baby'll be out."

I stared at her with a smile on my lips, and retorted, "I hadn't imagine you intended anything more…"

"Oh shut up, Sev," she said, taking my hand and leading me over to the small sofa she had in front of the fire, and sat us both down in front of it, so she could snuggle up against me, "The Hermione in this time may be a virgin, but _I_ am not, and _you_ are not, so we can both be quite frank about these things."

I almost asked her how exactly she knew that, but we both knew the answer, so I just buried my face in her hair and inhaled her scent, wrapped my arms around her to pull her closer, reveling in the closeness, and I realized that it wasn't just the two of us. There was _three_ of us here, curled up in front of the fire. I reached down, running one hand along the curve of her stomach, and met her fingers midway. Our hands curled into each other, and we gazed into the fire together.

Half an hour later I realized Hermione had fallen asleep, and I gently picked her up and carried her into her bedroom, laying her down on her soft mattress and pulled the blanket up over her. I paused for a moment, listening to her breath, watching her chest and stomach rise up and down slowly. Then I leaned over her and kissed her once on the lips, and then on her stomach.

"Good night," I said, before quietly returning to my own rooms.

OOO

Faster than I would have thought possible, the last two months Hermione was due to spend in the past sped by. It became a blur of my duties as Headmaster, mindlessly researching time travel (more for Hermione's sake than mine since I knew I had at least ten years to go before finding anything out), and spending time with Hermione. She had started dragging a radio around with her and listening to it, because, according to her, the baby could hear and react to the sounds. She said she was glad I was there, because it would accustom him or her to the sound of my voice even though she wasn't in her own time. She was also spending a lot of time with Madame Pomfrey, going over the pregnancy and getting various medicines for various aspects of pregnancy. I didn't pry into much of that. I would probably get the full details with her first one… about eight years from now or so.

On the whole, it was a very fine two months. For the first time in a long time, possible the first time ever because I doubted certain other people _meant_ it when they had said "I love you" I was in a meaningful relationship. With an amazing woman. Who sometimes had odd requests for food and bouts of irritability due to an internal parasite affecting her normal bodily hormones. Hermione Granger… We spent most of our evenings together, discussing time travel or just being with each other. I didn't really mind not being able to make love to her (though I think sometimes both of our hormones felt otherwise). Mostly it was enough to just be in her presence, touch her, hold her, inhale her scent… It was also something amazing to know a whole new life was growing inside her… and that the father of that child was me. It made me sad to know I'd have to wait ten years to see it born.

Too fast, much too fast, it was the day of Hermione's return. She listed the time to me as eleven thirty-two in the evening. Late. I was agitated all day. Worried. This was where Hermione's knowledge of the future ended, because this was the last I'd seen of her. Despite what I told her I _was_ worried about her. She was very close to her due date and though I didn't think there was some _destiny_ to what was happening, I… was worried about her. I didn't trust myself- if something bad happened to her now I wouldn't tell the younger Hermione, so if something bad DID happen the fact that Hermione thought she was fine (based on my knowledge, given to her), reassured me very little.

As soon as she was out of classes I met her in her office. She was sitting at her desk, organizing files in a final sort of way. She wouldn't be back, at least, not to in this timeline. There was a frown on her face, and she stood up as I entered, but then immediately sat down again, her frown becoming more pronounced.

"Ow," she said, as explanation, and leaned back in her chair, "I hope this baby is born soon…"

"Hmm," I said, moving over to her side. I stood behind the chair, then reached down to lightly massage her shoulders, "How are you feeling? Do you want to go lie down?"

"Maybe," Hermione said, leaning back into my hands. From the tone of her voice I felt that her answer was really yes.

"You're going home tonight," I said as she stood up slowly, then offered her my arm. She took it, but then after a moment moving her grip down so she was just holding my hand. I looked down at her, and caught her gaze. I was startled at what I saw there, in her expression. There was nervousness, which I expected, but also something more..

"Hermione?" I asked softly, inquisitively.

"I almost positive our baby's coming tonight," she said, taking a deep breath.

My first thought was _how ever DID she manage to teach classes today? _Then I felt a sudden mixture of fear and a bit of happiness (she said _our_ baby). But mostly fear. My hand tightened around hers.

"Do we need to go to the Hospital Wing?" I asked.

She shook her head, "Not yet… but it might be best to go there as time approaches eleven thirty… I think it'll be born after I travel back…"

"Ahhh," I said slowly, feeling a tightening of fear in my gut. Time travel? A woman in labor? No wonder I had neglected to mention to Hermione that she was in labor the night she returned…

As if reading my thoughts Hermione said, "You didn't tell me about this."

"I can't imagine I would," I said, and we left her office, making our way towards her rooms. She didn't seem too uncomfortable walking, and her expression had turned to casual, with only the tightness her fingers clenched mine revealing to me how she was feeling.

"I think I'm glad I didn't know, actually," she said as we walked, "I would have spent an awful lot of time worrying. I always assumed he or she'd be born a few days or a week after I returned… not _while_."

"I'm sure it will all be fine," I said, though I wasn't sure at all. Suddenly I wished I knew more about pregnancy and labor than I did. I felt completely ignorant. Hermione had already gone through his once before… she knew what was going on, and what was to come, whilst I had no idea. The last birth I had attended was my own.

"Yes," Hermione said with a slight sigh.

As we reached her door, Hermione stopped, leaning against the wall, one hand on her stomach, looking slightly pained.

"Hermione?" I asked, cursing myself for not reading up on pregnancy. I would for Adeline, that I promised myself.

"Contraction," she said, "Been having them for about half an hour… think they might be the real thing."

"You are sure you don't need to see Madame Pomfrey?" I inquired as she straightened up and unlocked her door, moving inside to then sit down on her couch with a deep breath.

"I'm sure," she said, "I'll tell you when we should go."

I sat down beside her, leaning into the soft cushions of the sofa, and took Hermione's hand again. I ran my fingers along hers, gently massaging the skin and tracing the lines of her palm.

"It is going to be good to be home," Hermione whispered as we sat there, together, "See Adeline again…"

"See me again," I added for her.

She glanced over at me, then smiled, and said, "I'm seeing you right now. Stop feeling jealous of yourself. Are you going to miss me?"

"Hmm," I said, looking down at her stomach, "I don't know."

She smirked at me and I frowned.

"You'll miss me," she said, "At least until you realize the younger me is just the same as the older me."

"When exactly is it that you learn to smirk so much?" I wondered absently.

"Probably around now," Hermione said with a smile.

"I will miss you," I decided, and admitted, "And that is something amazing in itself."

Three hours later and only four hours from Hermione's time of departure Hermione sent me to fetch Madame Pomfrey. Luckily there weren't any seriously injured students in the Hospital Wing at the time, because if there was, they would just have to wait. Unfortunately, the arrival of the Nurse for some reason seemed to signal the removal of myself. As she entered the room, she neatly closed the door in my face, and after I forcibly (with magic) opened it again, she explained to me that men were not allowed in the birthing room. I promptly told her she was an old fashioned hag and then went into my own office to brood. By now Dumbledore's painting was mostly aware of what was going on (having ferreted it out of me on previous occasions), and for three and a half hours spouted off vague cheerful words about babies and stuff that did nothing to reassure or distract me, and merely made me wish that Headmasters did _not_ get to come back as paintings… or whatever. Most of the other paintings didn't seem interested in the conversation, for which I was grateful.

He only got to spout for three and a half hours because at that point I stormed back down to Hermione's rooms, and demanded to be allowed entry. Damn all rules of medicine and tradition- I was _going_ to be there when she left. Besides, I had a sneaking suspicion that the Hag- I mean Nurse, was dreadfully wrong and that my presence could only help and reassure Hermione…

I entered her rooms expecting… I don't know what. I found Hermione lying on her bed, on her left side, breathing carefully through a contraction. No blood or screaming or anything crazy. I supposed the actual birth was still a while away. When Hermione saw me, a smile lit up her face, and she beckoned me over, at the same time as Madame Pomfrey glared at me.

"How are you?" I asked as I kneeled down by the side of the bed, feeling awkward and uncomfortable in the situation.

"Doing good," Hermione said brightly, "Since this is my second baby it's probably going to be a quicker birth… I'm getting close to the pushing stage. The thing I learned with Adeline is that I am insanely grateful to be a witch. Muggle birthing is very messy, very painful, and often much longer than it needs to be. Just imagine having to do a caesarean section! Muggle medicine strikes me as particularly primitive in lieu of magical medicine!"

Since I had very little idea of what she was talking about I chose to remain silent, taking comfort in the fact that Hermione seemed to be in very little distress. I glanced at the clock on her dresser, and realized there was only a few minutes left… A few minutes of a five month adventure that had entirely changed my life in drastic ways. My eyes drifted over Hermione's face. Here I was, thinking of Hermione Granger in her first name, being the one who comforted her during childbirth… Here I was… loving her. I felt a sudden tension inside of me as I realized she was leaving. A certain tightness. A certain grief.

"Hermione…" I said softly, and reached over to touch her cheek. She closed her eyes briefly, then took my hand in both hers and rubbed her nose along the inside of my palm, a smile upon her lips.

"I love you too, Severus," Hermione said. And then she was gone.

**A/N: I guess that went kind of fast but... yeah. More to come soon!**


	19. Hermione IX

"What brings this question on?" Severus asked me, folding closed the book that had lain on his lap. He set it down on the table beside the chair he was sitting in. I wondered if he'd been waiting for me.

"I just want to know," I answered, sitting down beside the sleeping Adeline, looking at her so I wouldn't have to look at Severus, "I've only just realized I really don't love Ron anymore and…"

"Your feelings are starting to move to me?" he finished for me, perfectly serious sounding. I wondered if he wasn't hiding a smirk, so I glanced over at him but no… he _was_ serious.

"I don't know," I answered, as truthfully as I could, "Maybe."

"Perhaps what you are wondering then is not why I love you, but why _you_ love _me_," he answered, then sighed and looked away from me.

"Hmm," I said thoughtfully. Adeline shifted a little on the sofa, and I reached over to stroke her hair gently.

"I miss you a lot," Severus said after a little silence, his voice lower than usual. I glanced at him again, but he wasn't looking at me, "This pregnancy… your future pregnancy… I'm not there for her. Well, I was, but back then… I wasn't. I didn't know it was even mine until a number of months. And you…"

He looked at me now, and I knew he was talking about this me, not the future me. His gaze was oddly intense.

"You are the Hermione that I fell in love with, well after the older you left… But you're so shy, still getting over that Weasley… You clearly love Adeline… which leaves me feeling… alone. Odd that I should be jealous of my own child sometimes. I want to comfort you because I can tell you're struggling, but you don't want my comfort yet," he stood up and started to leave, then paused, and turned back to me, "I know you're doing your best, but its hard to see you every day, and know that you wish you were somewhere else."

Then he did leave, going out and down the hall. To his bedroom, I presumed. I felt mortified. I never considered how _he_ felt with me being around… I sort of assumed he was taking this all quite happily and in stride, assumed he was there for me to get to know, to interrogate at will… Did he take offense that I was so intimate with Adeline? I looked down at the sleeping two year old. Apparently not because he was clearly assuming I was capable of putting her to bed. I frowned, and watched Adeline breath.

Was I being rude to him? I hadn't felt like I was before, but now I looked on my past actions with embarrassment. It wasn't true though… I _was_ struggling but I didn't.. I didn't hate Snape. He didn't repulse me… not anymore, that is. He… intrigued me. Maybe I needed to tell him that. I realized he was probably wondering how I ever fell in love with him… the pressure was on him as well, for in his timeline, when I returned home, I was already relatively interested in him…

I reached over and picked up Adeline gently. She barely even twitched, so deeply was she asleep. Cradling her gently, I took her back to her room and lay her down in her crib, pulling her blanket over her. Then I went back out into the hallway. I stared at the closed door to his bedroom… to _our _bedroom, for a long minute, then slowly walked over to it and knocked.

"Um… Severus?" I asked quietly.

The door creaked open a moment later, and Severus looked down at me. He was partly undressed- that is, not anywhere near naked, but his long black robe was off. Underneath I saw he wore black trousers. I wondered if he wore those in summer too. And a black shirt that draped his torso in an almost… (dare I even think it?) _sexy_ kind of way.

"Hey," I said, and sort of moved forward in a way that suggested I wanted to enter, and he apparently got that, for he stepped out of the way and held the door open for me.

The lights were dim, but I didn't mind. I just sort of moved towards the center of the room and then turned back to him, feeling awkward. He closed the door and then sat down in one of the chairs opposite the bed that was currently clothing free. Then he looked over at me, waiting.

"I…" I took a deep breath, then plowed on, "I just wanted to say that I don't hate being here. I'm sorry if I've seemed… rejecting of you. I know you understand, but… You should know that I'm also okay with it. You… you intrigue me. I don't entirely understand it yet, but you do. And, well _hell_ you look pretty damn fine right now too!"

Then there was a pause between us in which I felt like sinking into the ground- awkwardness filled the space between us. But then he chuckled, and suddenly we were both laughing. When the little chuckle fest was over, our eyes met again, this time easier, and Severus stood up. He walked over to me and took my chin in one hand, tilting my face up so I looked directly into his eyes.

"So I haven't entirely failed…" he said softly, musingly, "I thought perhaps I had scared you off so much that I would change my own timeline…"

"That's impossible," I said, very aware of where his hand touched my skin. I thought maybe my heart was beating a little faster than usual as well. _Like older men, do you?_ he had asked when I first returned from Harry and Ginny's. Apparently I did. He had to be around fifty. Hmm. Well for being fifty he certainly still had looks. Though somehow the forty year old one hadn't held any attraction for me a few months ago. Hmm.

"So we assume," he said, then stepped backwards in a very sudden, almost violent motion and sat himself down again.

I peered at him curiously, wondering where that came from, then suddenly I smirked, achieving realization, and said, "So we both stand here, me struggling with an odd attraction for an older man, and you with what society considers a perverse attraction for a much younger woman…"

"You haven't changed much in ten years," Severus said, avoiding looking at me, "I was older than you then too… And I still think of you as my wife. I have an excuse for my attraction."

"And what's mine?" I asked him.

"Yours?" Severus smirked, "Yours is that you know you marry me. But our dilemma is that you have only just become attracted to me; _you_ have not yet kissed _me_."

"Hmm," I said, staring at Severus, intensely aware of the distance between us, "So we both have excuses then?"

"So it would seem," Severus replied, "The question is whether it is appropriate to act upon those excuses."

"Hmmm," I said again, though it was almost more of a "Mmm.."

"Which I believe is best determined by the one of us who is a virgin," he added on.

At this I turned bright red and looked away from him, totally embarrassed. I swallowed, then coughed, choking on my own spit for a few seconds. Then I glanced back at him, my blush slowly fading. Sometimes he was far more forward than I ever imagined Severus Snape could be. Then again I had never really imagined him from a sexual point of view until now.

"What does _act_ define?" I finally asked.

"Don't be childish," Severus retorted, "You know exactly what I mean."

"Hmm," I answered, thrusting my hands into the pockets of my robes to stop myself from fidgeting, "I _am_ a little curious…"

"As to what?" he prodded.

"What it would be like to kiss you," I admitted, turning a little red again, but having the feeling that him hearing me say that made him feel better; had he really been going on these months thinking I was totally uninterested in him? Other than in a _how in the hell did THIS happen_? kind of way?

"Are you just _curious_?" he inquired softly, "Or is it that you actually _want_ to?"

"Hmmm," I said again, despite the fact that I was thoroughly overusing it is as noncommittal noise.

"I apologize for pressuring you," Severus said, "Into admitting your feelings to me… You must know that I have been madly curious for ten years of my life as to how exactly you fell in love with me… It has been a bit disheartening to realize you didn't do so easily."

"Does that matter?" I inquired, "You know where I'm coming from. And clearly once I do fall in love with you, it sticks, because you and I are still in love, ten years later."

"Hmm," Severus said, delighting me. So I wasn't the only one feeling a tad uncomfortable. Or hesitant.

He stood up again, looking vaguely somewhere in the direction of the floor, "Have you had dinner?"

I paused, then asked, "Are you going to kiss me?"

"I don't know," Severus replied with a smirk, "Because I never did find out if when I first kissed you ten years ago, after you had returned to your correct timelines, it was the first time you had kissed me."

"Maybe that's a little bit of history we get to choose for ourselves then," I said, feeling delighted at that idea. _So there, fate!_ I thought, feeling ridiculously giggly.

"Well, then," he said, looking at me, with one eyebrow slightly raised, "Which is it?"

"I think you should kiss me," I said, barely sure I was hearing myself right.

Severus stared at me for a moment, the ghost of a smile hinting about his lips. Then he closed the space between us and stood so we were just barely inches apart. Looking down at me he said slowly, "Are you sure?" And from the way he said it, it in no way came off as a "do you _young_ woman know what you're doing?" informed consent kind of question but more of a silkily dark question… In the kind of way that made me absolutely want to say, _hell yes I'm sure!_ It was a very teasing question. Somehow, the fact that he was ten years over twice my age and around the same age as my father had totally left my mind.

"I'm sure," I said, my voice barely above a whisper, as I looked up at him, into his dark eyes.

"Well all right then," Severus replied, leaning ever so closer, "I shan't deny my lovely wife."

"I'm not your wife yet," I pointed out.

"You will be… and that's good enough for me," Severus said, "And apparently it's good enough for you as well."

I didn't get a chance to say anything more, because Severus chose that point to acquiesce my request. The last few inches between us disappeared as he leaned forward and pressed his lips against mine, at the same time wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me closer. It was completely different from kissing Ron. For one thing, his lips were cold, at least at first, while Ron had always been all warmth. He also knew how to kiss. It wasn't a brief brush of lip on lip, but a real kiss, though it didn't go past that. It started out gentle, surprisingly so, but then deepened, asking for more pressure, and at the same time his grip around my waist tightened, holding me still. I started to respond, pressing back, but then he released me, pulling away and stepping backwards. We both stared at each other then, lost from the world of thought or spoken word.

"Mmm," I finally said, and let a smile come across my face.

"I've been kissing you for ten years, you know," Severus commented with a smirk.

"What a lovely advantage for me," I answered, reaching up to touch my lips for a moment, then I turned slightly and added, "Though I don't think it's really appropriate for us…"

"Of course," Severus agreed, "That was just so you know what to look forward to."

"And so you remember what you're waiting for," I teased back.

To my delight, Severus chuckled and then sank back down into his chair, leaning his head back and yawned. Then he leaned forward and starting taking off his shoes, saying, "Well _I_ am going to go to sleep. I suggest you do the same."

"Good night, then," I said softly, moving past him towards the door. I paused with my hand on the knob and looked at him. When he noticed I hadn't left, he glanced over at me. I gave him a smile when I had his gaze, then pulled the door open and slipped into the hallway, quietly making my way back to my own room.

**A/N: Thanks to all those who reviewed the last chapter!!**


	20. Severus X

I stared at the empty space on the bed where only moments ago Hermione Granger had lain in labor. I felt lost, wanted to grasp at that air and pull her back. Wasn't the younger one supposed to be back now? I suddenly realized I should have been recording this, documenting it somehow, casting spells to further try and delve into the secrets of her time traveling. I stood up, and looked over at where Madame Pomfrey stood, looking frustrated. I assumed she and Hermione had discussed the fact that she'd be leaving during labor.

When I looked back at the bed, Hermione was sitting there again, cross legged and looking surprised. I met her gaze and she blushed, then looked at Madame Pomfrey. I cursed myself for looking away… and missing the subsequent time traveling.

"I'm really back?" she asked as she turned back to me, "This is no longer the future?"

"Considering the relativity of that word I _could_ not answer that, but for you, yes, this is no longer the future," I said, amazed at once at how much younger she looked… and how much _not_ younger she looked. Somehow I still imagined Hermione as somewhere between the first year and seventh year her. It was like seeing her for the first time ever. I looked at her, and felt an ache inside myself, for in her I saw the future Hermione, the one whom I knew not what became of her, and would not know for ten years. It was as if she hung in a void, waiting, in which time would not pass for her, but would for me.

"Well then," Hermione said, and turned to Madame Pomfrey, "I'm all right? No weird side affects? I mean I suppose I know there aren't, since I obviously live at least another ten years…"

Of course.. she did not know her future self had left in labor. She assumed the Nurse was there for her. Suddenly the awkwardness of our situation struck me, and I turned to walk over to the doorway. There I stopped and glanced back at Hermione.

"Miss Granger," I said, the words feeling strange in my mouth, "Need you a day to recover or will you be teaching classes tomorrow?"

"Oh!" Hermione looked surprised and something else, yet the rest of her expression was unreadable, "I can teach. I'm fine, really…"

"Good," I said, giving her a curt nod, "Good evening, then."

I turned, striding out of her rooms and leaving her alone with the Nurse. The world was back as it had been before. Yet as I walked down the halls, my robes billowing around me in a way students often described as 'bat-like' I felt like the world had now changed for the worse.

Back in my rooms I stared into the fireplace for a long time before finally descending into sleep. Hermione had told me little of what happened now, and though she told me some of what she had done while in the future, I felt strangely lost. Now what? I didn't even know when we were supposed to get married… Adeline would be born in about eight years, but other than that… And did I even believe the future would come to pass as we had seen it? Or did we have the power to change it? Did I want to change it? Hermione had seemed confident enough of the outcome of time, and when she was here I believed her. But now… now everything was different.

I barely slept.

OOO

The next morning I found Hermione was sitting in the place she had been accustomed to five months ago, next to Longbottom a few places down from my own. I was unable to catch her eye as I sat down myself, surveying the crowd of students eating away and some doing last minute homework. She was engaged deeply in conversation with her friend, and so I decided to leave her be. Despite myself, I couldn't help but listen in when I could, though I avoided looking at her.

"…wildly different though I suppose I already told you all about it! I taught classes while I was there, too. Quite fun- the students all wanted descriptions of the war from me… apparently I'm not very talkative about it in the future…"

There was little mention of myself. Of course, it was a rather personal matter. I wouldn't want to talk about it over breakfast either. Her voice changed little in ten years. I found myself imagining it was the older she who spoke, that she hadn't left, and I wanted to look over, catch her eye, and get a special smile from her…

After breakfast Minerva came to my office. She came in with a frown and that was when I knew I was in for a long and undoubtedly frustrating conversation. I suspected it had to do with Hermione.

"Severus," she started, and I frowned at her. She only called me Severus when she was wanted to talk down to me. Otherwise she referred to me as 'Headmaster.' I would really have preferred Severus since being called Headmaster, especially by her, always made me feel like I was pretending to be Albus. Only time would change that, I supposed.

"Severus," she said again, for good measure, ignoring my frown as she seated herself across from me, "I would like to talk to you about Hermione Granger."

"I suspected nothing else," I answered her in a low voice, telling her in every way but vocally that I felt this conversation was totally irrelevant and unnecessary.

"Now," she said and I frowned at her some more, "Hermione, from the future, told me"-

"Minerva," I said slowly, "Please spare me. Hermione Granger is a full Witch and now a Professor in her own right. She is capable of making her own decisions. She is an _adult_ no matter how much you may wish to still see her as a child. I do not know if the future will come to pass as our visitor indicated it would, and my knowledge of time travel suggests to me it _will_ but I find that if you disapproved of our relationship, you would have done better to tell her so _before_ she left, instead of coming to me _now_."

Minerva gave me a look that could wither dead rats and said, "I did not come to tell you I disprove a relationship between you and Miss Granger. I came because she left me something to give to you after her departure."

Then she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small package, wrapped in brown paper and laid it on my desk. She stood up after doing so and said, "I _would_ disprove of a relationship between you and her had circumstances been different. But as it is I will be delighted to join you at your wedding when it comes."

After she left, I let the amused smile that I had been holding back come to my lips, and I reached over and picked up the package, wondering what she could have left for me. It was too small to be a book, but what else it could be I couldn't think. My fingers slowly rolled the package around, then folded the paper away. Wrapped under many folds of paper, was a folded piece of parchment. I unfolded it, and read the words written loosely on the paper.

_I'm still here, Severus_, it said. I dropped it onto my desk and looked away, my fingers tightening as I scanned the office, my heart suddenly pounding.

It was like she had spoken in my ear, like she was standing there with me… It also made me come to the realization that she was right. She _was_ still here, just ten years younger. And also, if I remembered correctly, becoming interested in me. How had she known I would withdraw?

I looked at the parchment again, then thrust it into a pocket. It was time to forge a relationship that would end in marriage, a marriage that would last at least ten years and probably till death. Hopefully. Now… where could I find Hermione Granger?

**A/N: Thank you thank you to all those wonderful readers who reviewed the last chapter! I know the timelines aren't really running parallel right now, but that shall soon be rectified! **


	21. Hermione X

The last months I spent in the future went by much quicker than the first few. I visited Ginny and Harry more, helping keep an eye on Albus and James while Ginny was preoccupied with Lily (their new baby). It was good to spend time with Harry. After graduating I missed the almost constant companionship of him and Ron… though my relationship with Ron had now changed. Harry said we were still friends but I wondered if things were the same… if they _could_ be the same. He showed me pictures of his and Ginny's wedding, and then, upon request, he showed me pictures from mine. I didn't say it out loud, but I thought that Severus looked amazing, and kept sneaking glances at the photographs of him while Harry was talking about other photographs on the same page of the album.

Severus and I spoke only a little more about our own relationship, only by making comments in passing about my future or his. Adeline got better at using her potty, and a few weeks before my return, Severus moved me into the living room to start getting my room made into a baby room for their new baby. It made me feel like the 'other' Hermione, like I was intruding upon her life. Like she wasn't me. But it was fun to watch Severus come home with a bag full of baby clothes. The second time he did so he asked if I wanted to come along with him, and I said yes, and thus got to spend several weekends picking out furniture, toys, books, and booties for the baby I wouldn't know for another ten years. It was incredibly fun, especially since I knew that my future self would probably like the same things as me, so it wasn't like I was shopping in place of another woman. It also made me wish I had grown up a witch… the wide range of enchanted toys and games was amazing. It was enough to make the most spoiled, snobbiest rich muggle baby feel poor.

The day of my return home was upon me before I even realized it. I taught classes as normal, and when I entered Severus and my future self's rooms, I found Severus lying on the sofa on his back. Adeline was sitting on his stomach, dressed in a pair of soft pants and a blue long sleeved shirt. She was giggling at her father, and when I came in she squealed even louder, delighted to now have an audience to see her using Severus's stomach as a trampoline.

"Hey Adeline," I said with a smile, dropping down my bag, which was loaded with papers that needed grading. I intended to do so before leaving. It wouldn't be considerate of me to leave a hoard of essays for my future self, especially if I was about to have a baby.

"Mama!" Adeline exclaimed at me and lifted up her arms. I walked over to her and picked her up, feeling suddenly nostalgic as I held her in my arms… I wouldn't get to hold her again for eight years.

With the creature removed from him, Severus sat up, and watched me as I let Adeline snuggle up against me. I leaned my head down and kissed the top of her head, kissed her silky black curls. Then over her head, my eyes met Severus's, and he gave me a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry," he said, "The time will go by faster than you will think possible."

"I'm going to miss Adeline," I said, and took a few steps to sit down beside him, turning Adeline around so she sat on my lap facing me. I smiled at her and said, "How you like the idea of being a big sister, Addy?"

Adeline stared at me, apparently at a loss for words. She knew what was going on, Severus had been talking to her about it for the entire time I was here. Presumably she'd been informed around the same time Severus had been. She and I had even had a few semi-conversations about it. As far as a conversation with Adeline could go.

"Excited?" I prompted her this time and she nodded, then said, "Mama is coming back? With a baby."

I raised an eyebrow at Snape. So she _did_ know I was someone different- though apparently she didn't care, based on her attitude towards me. I just smiled at Adeline though and said, "Yes, Mama is coming back, and not far behind will be your new little brother or sister."

"For baby room," Adeline added, glancing at the door leading to what had been the guest room. We'd brought her along shopping a couple times, but Adeline had been less interested in picking stuff out for a new baby than for finding things she felt _she_ should own.

I leaned back against the sofa and said, "Yes. For the baby room. So what did you do today, Adeline?"

The conversation continued, and in between Severus and I discussed our day as well. A little later Severus and I left to dine in the Great Hall, leaving Adeline with Mimi. When we returned, I set to work on the essays, and before I knew it, the hour was late and I was due to return in a short ten minutes. I scribbled a last few notes on the last essay and stood up, walking down the hall to Severus's room. The door was open so I entered. He was sitting in one of the armchair's reading.

"Nervous?" he asked, looking up at me and closing his book.

"Not really," I said, then changed it to, "Well maybe a little. Not so much about the time traveling itself, but more about what will happen afterwards."

"Hmm," Severus said with a nod, and stood up and added with a smirk, "Well, everything works out. Clearly."

"For _you_," I retorted, "I still can't convince myself completely that time can't be changed, and once all evidence of the future is gone…"

"Don't worry," Severus said.

I nodded, and looked around the room, remembering when I had first woken up here five months ago, scared and surprised and shocked to find myself sharing a bed with Severus Snape. It made me a little bit sad, to be leaving, and just in general, for the drastic ways in which my life had changed, even though I no longer saw it as _bad_ really.

"You might want to sit down," Severus suggested, glancing at his watch, "Time travel can be dizzying."

"Was I sitting down?" I asked, sitting on the edge of the other armchair. I didn't feel like sitting. I felt like pacing.

"Yes," Severus admitted, "Cross legged. You appeared right where you had disappeared from."

"All right then," I said, and sat down on the bed, crossing my legs.

I looked up at Severus but then there was a lurch, from deep in my navel, like I was being yanked, and I was looking at Severus once more, but this was a much, much younger Severus. Ten years, to be more exact. He looked much different than I remembered him looking before I had gone to the future. More in a point of view kind of way. I blushed, and glanced over at Madame Pomfrey, who was standing at the foot of the bed I was now sitting upon. My own bed, one that I hadn't slept on in five months.

I looked back at Severus, and for lack of anything else to say, said, "I'm really back? This is no longer the future?"

"Considering the relativity of that word I _could_ not answer that, but for you, yes, this is no longer the future," Severus answered. I stared at him, drinking him in with my eyes- but he seemed distracted, and there was an awkwardness filling the room so I looked back at the Nurse.

"Well then, I'm all right? No weird side affects? I mean I suppose I know there aren't, since I obviously live at least another ten years…" I said, aware somewhere in the middle of the sentence that I started babbling.

Also somewhere in the middle of it Severus had stood up and started walking towards the door. When he reached it he turned back and looked at me, the expression on his face very grave as he said, "Miss Granger, need you a day to recover or will you be teaching classes tomorrow?"

"Oh!" I exclaimed. I had totally forgotten that I was a teacher here as well, "I can teach. I'm fine, really…"

Except emotionally. Why was he being so cold? I had thought about returning so much I never really considered the exact _moment_ of my return itself.

"Good," he said with a curt nod, "Good evening, then."

I watched him go with a confused ache starting to fill my chest. I looked at the Nurse and then slid to the end of the bed. She stepped over to me and took out her wand, tapping me with it in a few places.

"Healthy as can be," she said with a smile that someone managed to be disapproving at the same time. If I were a Nurse I supposed I'd disapprove of time travel too.

"Thank you," I said.

She smiled, then added, "And I suppose I'll have to wait another ten years to actually deliver that baby the future you carried about the entire time she was here."

"Anticlimactic, isn't it?" I said with a smile and stood up, "Thank you for being here."

Madame Pomfrey nodded and said, "I was here more for the future you, but I am glad to see this time travel has had no adverse affects either. Have a good evening, Professor."

The last was said with a smile. Of course, here I'd only been a Professor a few months. The title was a change, especially for those that had been my superiors until now, and were now my equals. It was going to be strange to be settling back into here…

With Madame Pomfrey gone I walked around my rooms, touching everything, looking at it. Though the hour was late I wasn't tired yet. I wanted to go wandering the halls of Hogwarts, I wanted to Floo Harry and Ginny and maybe Ron as well… tell them I was back. I wanted to go find a telephone and call my parents. I wondered what _their_ reaction to a ten year older pregnant me had been!

Finally, with a sigh, I flopped down on my bed and stared at the ceiling. What had happened here these past five months? I knew that this was when Severus was supposed to have fallen in love with me, but I really didn't know much else. Most of my questions of the older Severus had been about that time, about my future. Had I had actually gotten into a relationship with him? What was he thinking? Severus had said something about how he needed to realize I was the same person as she who had come from the future… I sighed, then growled, then rolled over, and before I knew it, I had fallen asleep.

OOO

The next morning I got up early and was one of the first professors to the Great Hall. Neville was already there, so I went and sat next to him in the place I used to sit, five months ago.

"Hermione!" he exclaimed when he saw me, "Welcome back! How are you? How was the future?"

"I'm good," I said, "Still adjusting to the shock of going back in time ten years. Everything is so different now…"

Neville nodded and said, "It was really amazing to talk to you from the future… just to know it really happens, you know?"

I nodded, remembering that he didn't yet know I married Snape… When would he find out? It was so aggravating to be back in time and have to put the puzzle pieces back together, figure out what was going on… I wouldn't escape this for another ten years.

Sometime after the Great Hall was mostly full did Severus enter. I didn't actually see him come in, as I had gotten very engaged with talking to Neville. He was describing in great accuracy the reactions everyone had to my time traveling here, and it was very entertaining. I also gleaned that he knew future Hermione had broken up with Ron for me, but he didn't seem to be curious as to who the father of my baby was… Before I knew it, breakfast was over and I hadn't gotten a chance to speak to Severus. Not that I really wanted to over breakfast… Especially since people in general didn't know. Hagrid and McGonagall were the only two at Hogwarts.

As the Great Hall emptied out I finally stood up and said goodbye to Neville. My first class wasn't until later in the day, so I wasn't entirely sure what to do. I could go back to my rooms, but I had already checked up on the status of all my classes before going to breakfast, so there wasn't really anything I could do there.

I wandered through the hallways and found myself standing in front of the gargoyle that guarded the stairway to the Headmaster's office- Severus's office, in other words. I stared at the statue, my heart suddenly pounding. Should I go up and talk to him? Or what? How exactly did one go up to someone and say 'Hello, I just found out I'm supposed to marry you and I've been told you recently fell in love with me, and I think I am starting to become very attracted to you as well…'?

Suddenly the gargoyle jumped aside and I found myself face to face with Severus Snape. He looked exceedingly surprised to see me and for a long moment we just stood there, staring at each other in awkward surprise. He looked like he was in a hurry to go somewhere, but had now stopped dead. Did he not want to see me?

"Hermione," he said, and I wondered if it was a good sign that he didn't call me 'Miss Granger' as he had last night.

"Severus," I dared. I had gotten used to calling his older self by this name, but coming back in time had reverted my brain to its old patterns, and it felt odd to call this younger him by his given name.

"I was just about to go looking for you," he finally said, then added, "Please come up into my office."

I was flustered by his turn of phrase, but I followed him up anyway, watching his robes billow around him as he strode back up the stairs. The first statement seemed more… intimate, but the second made it sound as if he just wanted to talk to me as Headmaster to Professor. It sounded very professional in tone.

We entered his office, and he moved around to sit behind his desk, motioning me to sit down as well. I did so, feeling more uncomfortable by the moment. It was like meeting a blind date for the first time.

"So," he said, leaning back and looking at me. His expression was unreadable. I found myself thinking of the one kiss I had shared with his older self, the promise he had given me of more to come, and suddenly I felt embarrassed. So that _would_ happen, but first we had to go through all the stages leading up to that. I never thought it would be so awkward.

"The future certainly is enlightening," I said, with a half smile, watching him for his reaction.

"Hmm," he said, then smirked and said, "Yes."

With just that little bit of communication I felt relief flooding through me. This was the same Severus I had left. Just younger, and probably a little more inhibited. Things would be okay. I wondered if he already loved me. I didn't really know how I felt about him yet. I knew some things had changed, but I didn't think I was in love with him yet. Not to pressure myself.

Silence stretched between us again. Why wouldn't he say anything more? I decided I'd have to be the one to make all the first moves, I supposed… which made sense in a few ways.

"Now what do we do?" I inquired of him, meeting his gaze- our eyes had both been sort of flicking around the room, landing on everything but each other.

"Hmm," he said, and leaning back, and I was reminded vividly of the times I had sat here five months ago, he as Headmaster, me as Professor, and the relationship between us nothing more than that. It was so _strange_ for it to be different now. But better. Definitely better.

"What do you want to do?" he finally inquired of me. I looked at him, feeling a smile creep across my face. He was definitely letting me make the first moves. Though he looked very serious, I found myself warmed by this.

"I'm not sure," I answered honestly, "I suppose we could start the way people usually start these things and go on a date."

He nodded thoughtfully and said, "Yes, we could do that. Would you like to?"

I paused and looked at him then said, "Yes, I think I would."

**A/N: No worries, it isn't over yet! Thanks to all those wonderful people who have been reviewing!! Your feedback is much appreciated!**


	22. Severus XI

That Friday, an hour before I was due to meet Hermione in Hogsmeade (we decided to meet off Hogwarts grounds as to not elicit attention), I paced back and forth in my rooms, glancing at myself in the mirror every once and a while. The whole situation made me very stressed, though I didn't show it.

When I found her waiting for me, just outside my office… I just wanted to kiss her. Go over to her and pull her into my arms and kiss her. But she looked so young. And I had no idea what was going through her mind. What did she think of me? I knew enough had happened to her in the future that her mind was changed on me… but to what _extent_?

I wanted so much to just _be_ with her as we had, the future her and me, but I knew I had to restrain myself. I would wait and see… let her lead the way. It seemed astounding to me, that in a short five months an older Hermione had me falling in love with her, and when the younger one returned, the one I had previously known, she was totally changed in that now she was looking forward to a relationship with me. In some ways, it was terrible… like meeting someone on a blind date.

Finally the time approached. I threw a long cloak on over my robe and strode out of my rooms, pacing down the halls and out onto the grounds. Once off the grounds I Apparated the rest of the way, appearing in from of the restaurant with the faint pop that always accompanied Apparition. The sun was just starting to set, and it hovered around the leafless trees on the horizon uneasily. I looked up and down the street, and then I spotted her.

Hermione was walking down the cobbled path towards me, her hands tugging a cloak tighter around her. It was among the first few days of March, and the weather was still bitingly cold on some days. Not that I really cared what the weather was like. Weather was weather. If it was bad, I did not go outside, if it was nice, I might sometimes go outside.

She looked up, and saw me. A smile flitted across her face and she lifted up a hand in a slight wave. I nodded back to her, and as she reached speaking distance I said, "Good evening, Hermione."

Her smile grew a little bigger and she said, "Hello Severus. Interesting the way things change, hmm?"

She referred to our situation. I found it almost incomprehensible. Who was she really, this young woman standing before me? She was not yet the Hermione that had come from the future to visit me, confident, self assured… in love with me. But she was not the Hermione I remembered anymore, and I knew this was because both of us had changed. I now saw her from a different perspective, and she… her life had been turned around. She was different.

"Yes," I murmured, musing, "Interesting. Would you like to step inside?"

She nodded, and I took her arm, leading her into the warmer restaurant. We were seated at a small table in a slightly secluded area of the restaurant. Dinner went smoothly. Afterwards I barely remembered any of our conversation. Neither of us spoke about time travel though. We kept the conversation light. What I do remember is the way the candlelight played over her face, her hands as she nervously twisted them before her while we waited for our meals to arrive. It was like seeing her for the first time, all over again. I was captivated.

The evening ended too soon. I remember getting up, paying the bill, feeling reluctant to leave that little corner of the world, where Hermione and I could sit and laugh, to go back to Hogwarts, where not everyone would be accepting of our relationship. Where not everyone would understand. I remembered Ron Weasley, yelling at the two of us a few months ago. How long until he would be satisfied?

We stood outside, our shoes crunching on little remnants of snow and ice that still clung to the surface of the road, desperate not to melt and be forgotten. Lanterns were lit now, all along the street. Laughter and light spilled from the Three Broomsticks a block or so away. We stood, and I looked over at Hermione. She was beautiful.

Her eyes lifted up, met mine. Brown to black. I took her hands, still warm from being inside, not yet chilled. There I paused, just holding her hands, looking at the pale, smooth skin, the fine wrinkles over the knuckles… The world faded. I looked at her again, our glance shy now, and saw the smile twitching at the corners of her mouth.

I leaned over and kissed her, remembering her words to me a few months ago. _"_She_ has never kissed you before…"_ Her lips were warm, soft. It was exactly the same kiss I remembered from the Hermione who had just left.

We walked back to Hogwarts holding hands.

OOO

Four years later I asked Hermione to marry me. She said yes, of course. Even though I knew the future, it was still wonderful, still amazing, to ask her, to be accepted. We had a small wedding on Hogwarts grounds. I felt Albus's presence that day, I think we all did. I think he would have been happy to see us there, to see life and love still going on, despite the war and death we left behind us. It was sunny and warm. The middle of May.

The future no longer seemed to so close, so sharp. I knew this story would play out again in six years, but it was like a fact one knows from reading a book, not an ultimatum directly affecting oneself. Life was pleasant. Hermione had settled into teaching. I saw more of Potter and Weasley than I ever dreamed I would do once they graduated. Harry started calling me Severus, and somewhere around that time I realized I should really stop calling him Potter, and call him Harry too. After the war, after the time travel, I found my dislike of him fading. Yes, he was James Potter's son, but he was also Lily's son. And now the best friend of my wife. He wasn't so bad.

I knew that in three years or so Hermione and I would decide to have children, and I'd finally get to meet the little girl that both Hermione's told me about. And then a few more years would pass, and I'd get to see the baby born that Hermione carried when she came from the future. We didn't figure out why it had happened, but we knew we wouldn't yet. I think neither of us really cared that much anymore. We did some research, in the first few years, but that tapered off. We both just sort of decided we'd figure it out when the time came.

Life flowed by, a blur of warm summers with walks by the lake and cold winters curled up in the front of the fire, sipping wine with Hermione. Soon, we both knew, soon things would change.

**A/N: Sorry about the wait again. I feel like I'm constantly apologizing. Ho hum... Well I'm in college. I have excuses... sort of. :( Anyway, THANK YOU for reading!! All of you, even those who read and aren't inspired enough or have the time to write a review. :)**


	23. Hermione XI

Falling in love with Severus Snape was the easiest thing I'd ever done in my entire life. After that first kiss, on our first date… That's when I knew I was going to fall in love with him. Well, I'd known that all along, but that is when my_ heart_ knew. I wanted to sing the whole way back to Hogwarts, as we walked together, holding hands. It was wonderful.

A few months later, after I'd administered the last final exam and collected the papers from exhausted students, and Severus and I sat in his office, looking outside at children young and old napping out on the lawn, grateful that school was letting out in a few days, I told him I loved him. We were side by side, looking out he window. He looked over at me and, smiling said, "I love you too." He'd been waiting for me to say it. I grinned at him, then closed the space between us to kiss him fiercely. Kissing, I've decided, is something far more intimate than sex, although people usually kiss before they make love to each other. You don't need words when your lips are pressed against someone else's, your breath intermingling with his.

Three years later he asked me to marry him, and I said yes, of course. By then I couldn't imagine spending my life with anyone else. My relationship with Ron had been rocky for the first year or two, but by now we'd settled into just being friends. I didn't know how he really felt still, deep inside, but we could at least enjoy each other's company without an awkward gulf between us. Harry and Ginny got married as well, and both Severus and I attended their wedding.

A few years later Harry and Ginny's first baby was born. His hair was immediately visible as red. They named him James, as I already knew they would, and I thought of the little boy he'd be in three years. I was at the Hospital when he was born, and an hour after he was born I was invited in to see him and his mother.

I entered the room, and saw Ginny sitting up in the hospital bed, looking tired but radiant (don't they always?), with little James cradled in her arms. He was asleep, his chest rose up and down in short breaths. Harry was sitting on the edge of the bed, one arm around Ginny's shoulders. That was when I realized that this picture more closely resembled the future than it did the past. I stepped over and looked at James, and then my memories of Adeline floated to the surface.

_"Mama"_ she had said when she first saw me. I missed her. I wanted her. Looking at Harry and Ginny, I realized I badly wanted a baby of my own. Before I knew that I had children, that I had Adeline, I hadn't given much thought to if I _wanted_ children or not. Other things had been more important to me. Studying for one, and then getting a good career. I had vaguely wanted to marry Ron, but I figured all that would sort of fill itself out. When the time came we'd talk about kids, and I'd know if I wanted them. And for the last few years I hadn't given it much thought because I knew Adeline and another would be along eventually… But James was only a year older than Adeline. I looked at him, and I congratulated Harry and Ginny, I took a few pictures. When I went back out into the waiting room, where Severus sat reading a newspaper, I sat down beside him.

"Healthy boy, of course," I said with a smile (we tagged on that 'of course' more and more often, it seemed), "They named him James. He's a lot smaller than I remember."

"Well, babies _do_ start that way," Severus pointed out as he folded the newspaper and looked over at me, "Small."

Then he paused, and looked at the expression on my face. It was vague, I supposed, and sort of wistful. An eyebrow went up. I looked at him, and chewed on a half smile, then said, "I want a baby."

"Well there's one right over there," Severus pointed out with a slight smirk, waving a hand towards the room where other guests, friends and family, were now crowding in one by one to see the new mother and her child. I wanted to be her.

"You know what I mean," I said, teasingly swatting at his hand. A moment later I took that same hand in my own, clasping his fingers between my own. It was shaking slightly.

"Are you scared?" I asked, looking at him, slightly incredulous, also amused. My heart melted for him.

"No," he answered, but I knew he was lying. I leaned over and kissed him, then said, "You are a wonderful father."

"Not yet," he replied dourly, shifting slightly in his seat.

"Soon," I said, then said to him what I had thought a few minutes earlier, "James is a year older than Adeline."

His eyes went back to mine and he said, "A year?"

"About," I said, holding his hand tighter.

"Ah," he answered, and looked away.

"Hey now," I said softly, reaching over and pulling his face back towards mine, "I've been there. It's all fine. Its wonderful."

Severus nodded and said, "I'm sure it will be," and lifted a hand to tuck a stray strand of hair behind my ear. I tilted my head sideways, resting it on his hand, and closed my eyes.

"I can't wait to meet her," Severus whispered, and I smiled.

OOO

Adeline was born exactly eleven months and fourteen days after James. When the Nurse first laid her in my arms, no longer bawling her head off as she was the moment she was born, and our eyes met, I almost cried. _I've been loving you for ten years_, I thought, _And now we meet again. _I looked up at Severus, standing beside me. His eyes were damp as well, and filled with wonder. He told me he'd never thought he'd ever have children until I came along. The future me, that is.

"Adeline," I whispered, stroking the fine hair on her round little head. Two years seemed so close. I wanted her to stay a baby forever. Severus knelt down beside me, resting a hand on my leg, then leaned over and kissed Adeline's head.

About two years later I woke up one morning, feeling sick to my stomach. Adeline was crying in her room, but she had only woken _me_ up. Severus was developing a remarkable amount of deafness. I poked him in the side and then stumbled over to the bathroom, where I threw up repeatedly before feeling a little better. As I slowly straightened up, and looked at myself in the mirror, I knew.

"_I'm pregnant_," I mouthed to my reflection, feeling a disturbing mix of excitement and fear. I looked around at the bathroom I was in, ran my hands through my hair, turned around a few times, and knew that in a few months I'd be gone. The adventure would start all over again. Except this time… I was the older Hermione.

_I AM the woman Severus fell in love with_, I thought with a little giggle, staring at myself again. My hands slid over to my stomach, and I pulled up my shirt to look at my belly button. I didn't _think_ I looked any bigger yet, but I shouldn't have been anyway. Not yet. I remembered when I was pregnant with Adeline, and I imagined myself that way now, and smiled. Was time traveling bad for fetuses? I hoped not. Then again, Severus said I was fine. For the first time, it was his turn to reassure me about the future. It was a lot less comforting.

I heard Adeline stop crying, heard Severus murmuring some soft words to her. I heard his footsteps coming back down the hall, into our bedroom. The bathroom door creaked open, and I looked over at Severus with a tentative smile.

"Morning sickness?" he asked. I nodded. He looked torn between frowning and smiling. It was an amusing expression, and I laughed, then went over to him and pulled myself into his arms.

"Everything's fine- you've told me that so many times," I said, turning around and leaning back on him, then peering backwards up at him.

"Yes," he said with a soft sigh, leaning his face down to kiss my forehead, "Yes it is."

"It's about to happen all over again," I said, turning serious, pulling Severus's arms tighter around me.

"Yes," he agreed once more, "The other side of the story."

"Hmm," I said, "Lets go eat breakfast."


	24. Severus XII

**A/N: And here it is, the last chapter!**

"All right then," Hermione said, the nineteen year old Hermione said, and sat down on the bed, crossing her legs, preparing for time travel. She looked up at me, and then, she was gone. I felt a moment of wistfulness… these five months had been stressful, but they had also been fun. It was fun to watch Hermione's expression when she first saw Adeline. Fun to watch her realize that I was someone she could love. Fun to tease her about the things she wasn't quite comfortable with. Fun to watch her with Adeline and realize that ever since she came back, she had been waiting to be with that little girl again.

Then Hermione appeared on the bed. She was lying on her side, hands wrapped around a belly that was much larger than when she had left. Our eyes met and she sighed, it sounded relieved, and said, "Severus."

I stepped quickly over to her side. She started to sit up, and then she was in my arms and I was kissing her. My hand caressed her stomach then pulled her tight close to me. "Mmm," she moaned, kissing me back, passionately.

We pulled apart, looked at each other for a brief moment that felt like an eternity, then I pulled her up into my arms and stood up. "Time to go to the Hospital Wing," I said, kissing her again.

"You _knew_," she said with a smile, jabbing my ribs slightly with her elbow, "You _knew_ and didn't tell me!"

"Didn't make a difference, though, in the end," I pointed out with a smile, carrying her down the hall, out of our rooms and into the corridors of Hogwarts.

"I can walk, you know," she pointed out as I carried her towards the Hospital Wing.

"No you cannot, Missus Granger," I replied, smirking down at her.

In a few moments we were there, and I lay my wife down in one of the beds. Madame Pomfrey was by my side before I had even reached the Wing. She then sort of shunted me off to the side. I stood back, watching as the Nurse cast a few spells, then brought over a potion for Hermione to take. It was all familiar from when Adeline was born. Except this time Hermione hadn't told me in detail everything about this baby when he or she was age two. Except now the future was a big, gaping, blank hole. I shivered and decided not to think about it. Knowing the future had made me placid.

I need not have worried these ten years though, because the birth went smoothly. Well, as smooth as any childbirth ever goes. It was only a few hours later that I found myself the father of a baby boy, Adeline's new brother. We had decided before that if it was a boy, we'd name him Hugo, and he'd take my last name, like Adeline, because having two children with different last names would just be awkward for when they went to school. If it was a girl, she would have been Rose, Hermione's choice. Adeline had been my choice, so it was sort of Hermione's turn.

His hair, when it was dry, looked like a dark brown, and his eyes were hazel. Unlike most babies, he came out silent. After Madame Pomfrey cleaned him up, he opened his eyes and looked around at the world curiously. He was wrapped up into a blanket and placed into Hermione's arms. I stepped closer to Hermione, my gaze captured by that tiny little body that I'd waited ten years to see born. _One very long pregnancy_, I thought to myself.

"Hugo," I whispered, taking Hermione's hand and giving it a squeeze. Hugo stared back up at me.

"He's finally here," Hermione said, "The future is here."

"Yes," I answered, "The future."

I looked at Hugo, and I wondered if now, now that Hermione had returned, that the time traveling was complete… would we know why and how it happened? I had several monitoring spells on the room, but I would not have the chance to check them for a while. Would they reveal anything? Ten long years. And now it was over. Thus far, there was nothing sinister. It was as if Hermione had just randomly, spontaneously gone back in time, for no apparent reason. And traded places with her past self. I decided not to think about it, which was fairly easy with my newborn son dozing in Hermione's arms.

Hermione fell asleep soon too, and I took Hugo into my own arms. He was so soft, so warm, and I remembered when I had first held Adeline. She would meet Hugo in the morning. I walked around the empty except for Hermione hospital ward, rocking the now sleeping baby. Madame Pomfrey hovered, and I did my best to ignore her, and finally I asked her to fetch Hermione's parents.

Suddenly, the same way the time travel with Hermione had happened, there was no longer a newborn baby in my arms. Instead, there was a teenage boy with messy brown hair in my arms. He looked oddly familiar.

"You can put me down," was the first thing he said, and I was so shocked I obliged.

"Who are you and where is my son?" I demanded as soon as the boy had straightened up. He was wearing Hogwarts robes. Slytherin, I noticed, but not anyone I recognized.

"I'm Hugo," he said with a grin, "Er, sorry about interrupting you."

He glanced over at Hermione, then looked back at me, "She's asleep."

I stared at him. Hugo. _He_ was Hugo. I stared at him.

"Uh…" the boy sighed, ran a hand through his hair and said, "Once more I apologize but you will need the information I'm going to give you. I'm a time traveler. For most of my childhood I spontaneously time travel, now that I am at Hogwarts I'm learning to control when I Switch, which is pretty darn useful. You'll probably want to keep a close eye on me for the first few years, I usually only Switch within a few years in my childhood, because if I Switch with older ages I've already gotten control and I can technically only Switch with my past selves. I mean, I can't choose to Switch with a future self, because well technically the future hasn't happened yet. Which probably doesn't make much sense to you because it can't be changed anyway… Anyway, don't be alarmed if in a single day I switch from being two months old to two years old to eight years old to five years old… well maybe I never did that but you get the idea. OH! What you most want to know… Mama's time traveling. Well that was me. I guess I unborn me Switched myself with the egg that was in Mama… But that dragged her along. Yes?"

"You're Hugo?" I said, looking at the boy. He did have hazel eyes too, the same as the ones I had just been looking into. Slytherin. Hmm. I wondered if he got along with Harry's children- who were all bound to be Gryffindors.

"I'm Hugo," he said grinning, "Papa. Anyway, that's all so I'll leave now. You and Mum are enjoying seeing me as newborn again, so no need to worry about newborn me. Am I cute?"

"Exceedingly," I said, still staring at Hugo incredulously. No need for those monitoring spells after all.

"Just so you know, you're both great parents," Hugo said with a grin, "My sister hates it that I can be older than her sometimes."

"Severus?" Hermione murmured softly and Hugo and I both looked over at her. Hugo moved first, stepping over to her side and sitting on the edge of the bed to give her a hug.

"Have fun with baby me, Mama," he said, "Papa will explain, but I bet you want your baby back now. Plenty of fun with time traveling later."

Then the baby was back, laying beside Hermione, looking a little surprised and awake now. After a few moments of contemplation of his new surroundings, he began to cry. Hermione immediately scooped him up into her arms. Madame Pomfrey chose that moment to re-enter, towing Hermione's parents behind.

As she prepared to nurse Hugo, Hermione stared up at me and said, "What just happened?"

"Apparently our son can time travel," I said dryly, then glanced over at the Grangers, who were cautiously scooting closer to peer at Hermione and Hugo.

"This is Hugo, Mum, Dad," Hermione said, beaming down at the baby, her expression still slightly puzzled.

"He switches with himself," I said, "His teenage self just Switched with his baby self to explain this to me. He's in Slytherin."

"Slytherin?" Hermione asked, looking at the baby who was now nursing at her breast, "This little guy?"

"I don't think it's having many negative effects on him," I answered, thinking of Hugo's wild grin. He seemed more like one of the Weasley twins at fourteen than myself at fourteen. I rather thought that this was a good thing.

A few minutes later Harry and Ginny came in as well, both looking a little sleepy. This was not surprising as it was around three in the morning. The Grangers had missed the Switching, so I didn't bother to explain to them what we'd been talking about. Time enough for that later. After an hour Madame Pomfrey shooed all the guests out, and after giving Hermione a through look over, she said we could go back to our own rooms, and she'd be back in the morning for another check up. Hermione was on the verge of falling asleep again, so I handed Hugo to the Nurse, and helped her walk back to our rooms. Once there, we tucked Hugo into his cradle, which we were keeping in our bedroom for the night, so we didn't have to wake Adeline going past her room all night long. And I was just starting to enjoy being able to sleep for eight hours a night again…

Hermione quickly fell asleep, snuggled up under the covers, but I stayed awake a little longer, watching Hugo sleep. I stepped over to his cradle and kneeled down, just close enough so I could hear him breathing.

"I love you," I whispered to him, looking at his fluttering eyelashes. And I had thought that the adventure was now over. It was just beginning.

**A/N: And that's that! Hugs and many, many thanks to all those who have read and given feedback to me on this story! I hope you all enjoyed it.**


End file.
